Cancer vaccines based on dendritic cells loaded with tumor-associated antigens.

Dendritic cells (DCs) can be used as an antigen presentation platform for vaccination against cancer. In this approach, DCs are expanded in vitro from monocyte-derived progenitors, and subsequently loaded with well-characterized tumor-associated antigens (TAAs). TAAs can be incubated with DCs in various forms, including peptides, recombinant proteins, plasmid DNA, formulated RNA, or recombinant viruses. Advantages and limitations of DC-based cellular vaccines against cancers, as well as preliminary results of clinical studies already performed in humans, are discussed. Importantly, significant advances in our understanding of the biology of DCs can be used to support the design of new vaccines or adjuvants in order to elicit TH1 cellular immune responses.