Using a patient's tumor to form vaccine: Dendritic cell vaccine induces immune responses in patients

Using a patient's tumor to form vaccine: Dendritic cell vaccine induces immune responses in patients

A new process for creating a personalized vaccine may become a crucial tool in helping patients with colorectal cancer develop an immune response against their own tumors. This dendritic cell (DC) vaccine, developed at Dartmouth and described in a research paper published this week in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, was used after surgical resection of metastatic tumors to try to prevent the growth of additional metastases.

"Basically, we've worked out a way to use dendritic cells, which initiate immune responses, to induce an antitumor response."
Dendritic cells are critical to the human body's immune system, helping identify targets, or antigens, and then stimulating the immune system to react against those antigens.