Cancer

Patient sample and mouse studies suggest vaccines based on tumor-associated dendritic cells (DCs) could help treat solid tumors. In tumor samples from patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) or colorectal cancer and mouse models of solid cancers, phenotypic analysis of tumor-associated immune cells identified two subsets of conventional DCs - one that could activate T helper type 17 (Th17) cells, and the other that could activate CD8⁺ T cells. In a mouse model of Lewis lung carcinoma, vaccination with one of the mouse DC subsets decreased tumor growth and increased numbers of tumor-infiltrating CD4⁺ T cells compared with no treatment. In a mouse model of melanoma, vaccination with the other DC subset decreased tumor growth and increased number of tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells. Next steps include testing tumor-associated DC-based vaccines to prevent metastasis and tumor relapse in mouse models of cancer...