What is Dendritic Cell Therapy?
Dendritic cells have been employed as cellular mediators for therapeutic vaccination of patients suffering from cancer ever since the mid-1990s. Dendritic Cell (DC) Therapy is a novel and cutting-edge immunotherapeutic approach towards the prevention of cancer as well the treatment of advanced cancer.
Cancer researchers have been looking for immunological treatments to treat cancer for decades now, but there hasn’t been a lot of progress in this arena. However, Dendritic Cell Therapy or the Dendritic Cell vaccine has proven itself to be a powerful form of immune therapy to treat cancer in a patient.
Some reports even state that those suffering from stage IV cancer have displayed significant improvements with the implementation of Dendritic Cell Therapy.
What are Dendritic Cells?
Dendritic cells belong to a specialized family of professional antigen presenting cells (APCs). They possess the unique ability of initiating and maintaining primary immune responses when pulsed with antigens.
It was Paul Langerhans who first observed Dendritic cells in 1868. They were later on identified from a mouse spleen in 1973 by Ralph Steinman and Zanvil Cohn. In the 1990s, the study of Dendritic cells was probed further by the establishment of protocols for in vitro culture of mouse and human Dendritic cells.
DCs help in activating natural killer (NK) cells and natural killer T (NKT) cells, and also aid in inducing cellular and humoral immunity. Dendritic cells are used as preventive vaccines as well as therapeutic vaccines to fight against cancer.
It is from the pluripotent stem cells in the bone marrow that DCs originate. After this, they enter the human body’s blood stream, and localize themselves into almost every organ. The responsibility of DCs includes directing different types of T-cell responses from the thymic negative selection to the production of effector and memory cells. They also help induce peripheral tolerance.
Dendritic cells can be found in tissues that have contact with the environment outside. This includes the tissues present over the skin, and also in the linings of the lungs, stomach, intestines, and nose. Once Dendritic cells are activated, they move to the lymph tissue to interact with the T cells and B cells, thereby helping in shaping the immune response. During the course of this development, these Dendritic cells develop branched projections named as “dendrites”, which is where the cells derive their name from.
What is the Dendritic Cell Vaccine?
Dendritic cells form the prime ingredient in the Dendritic Cell Vaccine (DCV). These help in activating a patient’s immune system and restoring their body’s ability to keep the activities of the cancer cells in control.
As far as oncological illnesses are concerned, it’s not possible for the immune system to prevent or control the growth and multiplication of the tumor cells. In order to restore the body to its normal functions, immunotherapy becomes necessary.
In a Dendritic Cell Vaccine, the isolation of blood monocytes from a patient takes place as the first step. These blood monocytes are then converted to dendritic cells in the lab. The cells are put to use for manufacturing the dendritic cell vaccine. This takes place by saturating the cells with the patient’s cancer antigens, and letting them mature.
The Dendritic Cell Vaccine is not responsible for the direct effect on the cancer diseases. Instead, what causes the therapeutic effect is the nurturing of the immune system. Therefore, instead of tolerating the cancer cells, it recognizes them and attempts to control their activities.
Different types of immunotherapy work for the prevention of cure of various types of cancer. This includes skin cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, and also gliomas of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). In fact, according to medicine experts, they can even be used to treat other malignancies.
What is the Dendritic Cell Vaccine Therapy?
The beginning of the Dendritic Cell Vaccine Therapy takes place by the isolation or extraction of a small portion of cancer. A tiny amount of blood is taken from the same patient, which is then filtered down using a process that isolates the dendritic cells from the immune system.
The isolated cancer sample and the dendritic cell sample are then brought together in the lab. This leads to the production of a strong Dendritic Cell Vaccine that can be injected back into the patient. This very process causes the immune system to be reshaped, thereby leading to the destruction of the immunogenic cancer cell.
Fortunately, DCV is a very simple injection and most patients react to it pretty well, with almost zero adverse effects having been detected till date. The Dendritic Cell Vaccine (DCV) is a Targeted Therapy, signifying the fact that the dendritic cells battle against the cancer cells present in a patient.
Before the process of the administration of the Dendritic Cell Vaccine begins, patients usually need to conduct tests related to HIV 1 and 2, Syphilis TPHA, Syphilis RPR, Hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg), Hepatitis B core antibody (HBcor), Hepatitis B antibody (HBs), Hepatitis C antibody (HCV). They also need to go through general blood tests before the procedure can be commenced.
Summing Up
Dendritic Cell Vaccine Therapy has emerged as a promising method in the field of cancer treatment in recent years. It brings about therapeutic solutions related to various cancer types at their different stages, including breast cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, uterine cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, and more.
Reports also suggest that DCV helps in limiting the aggressiveness of a patient’s cancer.
As far as the future of DC therapy is concerned, the combination of active specific immunotherapy and other therapies can work wonders in increasing the antitumor activity among the immune effector cells. Therefore, if you’re looking for a new-age cancer therapy for your loved ones and anyone you know, DCV Therapy is something worth researching and looking into as a potential solution.