Patient-specific tumor-associated antigens and neoantigens presented on autologous dendritic cells (DC-presented TSA/TAA)

Patient-specific tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) and neoantigens presented on autologous dendritic cells represent a personalized immunotherapy approach designed to harness the patient's own immune system to combat cancer (Banchereau & Palucka, 2005). Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells that are harvested from the patient, matured, and loaded ex vivo with either shared tumor antigens or unique neoantigens derived from the patient's specific tumor mutations (Schumacher & Schreiber, 2015). Once re-infused, these primed dendritic cells migrate to lymphoid organs where they present the antigens via Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules to naive T cells (Ott et al., 2017). This process triggers the expansion of tumor-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes and CD4+ helper T cells, which then circulate and infiltrate the tumor microenvironment to execute targeted cell killing (Kantoff et al., 2010). This therapeutic strategy aims to overcome the immune-evasive nature of tumors by providing a potent, directed stimulus for an adaptive immune response. While Sipuleucel-T was the first FDA-approved therapy in this class for prostate cancer, ongoing research focuses on using high-throughput sequencing to identify neoantigens for even more precise targeting (Sahin & Türeci, 2018).

Other names

Personalized dendritic cell vaccineNeoantigen-pulsed dendritic cellsAutologous DC-based immunotherapyTumor-antigen loaded dendritic cellsPersonalized cancer vaccine

Ex vivo loading of autologous dendritic cells with tumor-specific antigens followed by re-infusion to prime T-cell mediated anti-tumor immunity via MHC-mediated antigen presentation.