Antigen loaded dendritic cells (Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen)

The prognosis of patients with metastatic melanoma is poor and current available treatments are limited. Identification of a number of melanoma-specific tumor antigens that are shared by tumors from different patients, provides attractive targets for immune-based therapies (http://www.bioinfo.org.cn/hptaa/). Different approaches like DNA-/RNA-vaccines, peptide vaccines and dendritic cell (DC) vaccines are under investigation to induce peptide-specific immune responses. In various animal models and in clinical trials it was shown that the most potent induction of anti tumor-specific killer cells was achieved with DC vaccination. DCs are professional antigen presenting cells (APC) that are critical in the initiation of cellular responses in naïve T lymphocytes, in vivo. They are armed with all the molecules needed for the induction of immune responses and have the capacity to migrate into secondary lymphatic organs. In vitro generated dendritic cells are loaded with tumor derived peptides and injected subcutaneously. The concept is to induce or to propagate already existing tumor specific killer T cells.