Abstract
The adoptive transfer of cancer Ag-specific effector T cells in patients can result in tumor rejection, thereby illustrating the immune system potential for cancer therapy. Ideally, one would like to directly induce efficient tumor-specific effector and memory T cells through vaccination. Therapeutic vaccines have two objectives: priming Ag-specific T cells and reprogramming memory T cells (i.e., a transformation from one type of immunity to another, for example, regulatory to cytotoxic). Recent successful phase III clinical trials showing benefit to the patients revived cancer vaccines. Dendritic cells (DCs) are essential in generation of immune responses, and as such represent targets and vectors for vaccination. We have learned that different DC subsets elicit different T cells. Similarly, different activation methods result in DCs able to elicit distinct T cells. We contend that a careful manipulation of activated DCs will allow cancer immunotherapists to produce the next generation of highly efficient cancer vaccines.
Footnotes
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (P01 CA084514, U19 AIO57234, R01 CA089440, and CA078846), the Dana Foundation, the Susan Komen Foundation, the Baylor Health Care System, the Baylor Health Care System Foundation, the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA, and the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale. K.P. holds the Michael A. Ramsay Chair for Cancer Immunology Research. J.B. holds the Caruth Chair for Transplant Immunology Research.
Abbreviations used in this article:
- cDC
- classical dendritic cell
- DC
- dendritic cell
- LC
- Langerhans cell
- PROSTVAC
- poxviral-based vaccine targeting prostate-specific Ag
- Treg
- regulatory T cell.
- Received July 6, 2010.
- Accepted November 10, 2010.
- Copyright © 2011 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.