Dendritic Cell Vaccines

Immunotherapy specifically attacks tumors through the immune system, especially the acquired immune system, and dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in both intrinsic and adaptive immunity as specialized antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Dendritic cell vaccines therefore also have a place in immunotherapy as promising immunotherapeutic approaches against various tumors and are receiving increasing attention in the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) and other high-grade gliomas.

Our DC vaccines development services for brain tumors

DC therapy is an innovative cancer therapy that helps the body's immune system better recognize and fight cancer cells. Alfa Cytology aims to provide our clients with DC vaccine development services for brain tumors (e.g., GBM) by rigorously considering vaccine source, vaccine antigen and adjuvant selection, a vaccine targeting optimization, mobility restriction, and combination therapy.

Mechanism of action of DC vaccines

In the local immune microenvironment of glioma, the interactions between DCs, microglia, macrophages, T cells, and tumor cells are complex. DCs capture tumor antigens locally in the tumor and translocate to deep cervical lymph nodes to activate subsequent immune responses, while producing chemokines, such as CC chemokine ligands 9 and 10 (CCL9 and CCL10), locally in the tumor to recruit activated lymphocytes to the tumor localization. Finally, under the action of certain cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secreted by local T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, DCs can produce cytokines such as interleukin-12 (IL-12), which further enhance the anti-tumor activity of immune cells.

Sources of vaccines

In addition to the induction of DC vaccines from CD14⁺ monocytes isolated from autologous blood, we are also actively trying to provide our customers with more alternative pathways, including the preparation of a large number of DC-like cells, consistent with the function and phenotype of bone marrow-derived DCs, through the induction of antigen-presenting cells such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and proliferating myeloid cells.

Selection of antigens and adjuvants for vaccines

Our antigens for constructing DC vaccines are mostly tumor-associated antigens (TAA) or tumor cell lysates, which have the advantage of easy preparation and efficacy. In addition, tumor cell-derived exosomes as tumor antigens are also a focus of our attention. Tumor cell-derived exosomes show many properties that are superior to traditional antigens, including resistance to the tumor immune microenvironment, a robust antigen-presenting phenotype, the ability to transfer antigens from specialized antigen-presenting cells to other antigen-presenting cells, and the ability to be preserved over time.

Migration restrictions

Another thorny issue faced during DC vaccine application is vaccine migration; therefore, improving DC lymph node homing is an important way for us to improve the efficacy of tumor antigen-specific DC. We pretreated the vaccination sites of GBM patients with Td-like toxin as an effective antigen, which resulted in enhanced DC migration.

Advantages

• Compared with conventional vaccines (which are mainly preventive), DC vaccines are not only effective in preventing the invasion of pathogens, but also in providing timely and effective treatment after the disease has occurred.
• Compared with other types of vaccines, DC vaccines are directly sensitized in vitro, avoiding the in vivo clearance and off-target effects of conventional vaccines, and can induce more potent immune responses and are more powerful.
• DC vaccines have a long duration of efficacy, and the immune protection system repaired and rebuilt by DC vaccines can last for decades.
• Based on highly specific systemic and local immune reconstitution, DC vaccines are more precise and efficient in targeting and eliminating diseased cells.

Alfa Cytology helps our customers improve the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment by optimizing the targeting and antigen loading of DCs and overcoming migration limitations to help our customers combine with other immunotherapeutic approaches. Please feel free to contact us to learn more about how we can improve the efficacy of DC vaccines for brain tumors for our customers.