Dendritic cells (DCs) are antigen-presenting cells that initiate and maintain immune responses through their primary function in anti-cancer immunity.

DCs present cancer antigens to effector T cells, leading to the targeting and elimination of cancer cells. They can also induce immune memories that control cancer recurrence.

Several dendritic cell-based vaccines have been tested in patients with glioblastoma multiforme in phase I and II clinical trials.

A phase I clinical trial of a dendritic cell vaccine in patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent glioblastoma resulted in adverse events and treatment-related toxicities.

This study used patients’ own immunostimulatory stem cells, which were isolated and processed to enhance the immune response against cancer stem cells and injected subcutaneously in a series of vaccinations. Another phase I study investigated the use of CD133 peptides in a stem cell-based vaccine (ICT-121 DC vaccine), which has been clinically tested in patients with glioblastoma multiforme. In this study, CD133 peptides were used to load DCs that were injected into patients to elicit an immune response. The results of this study have not yet been published. An ongoing phase II study is investigating the efficacy of autologous dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with autologous glioma-like stem cells (A2B5+) and administered as a vaccination in adults with glioblastoma multiforme (primary or secondary). Finally, EPCAM-targeted CAR-T cells were created using genetically engineered T cells that express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), which binds to cancer cells that express EPCAM on their cell surface. CAR-Ts are being tested clinically in patients and in a variety of solid tumor types.