Studies demonstrate that Dendritic cell vaccines have shown the most success to date, by far more than other types of immunotherapy, in treating cancer.
Dendritic cells are special immune cells in the body that help the immune system recognize cancer cells. They break down cancer cells into smaller pieces (including antigens), and then hold out
these antigens so other immune cells called T cells can see them. The T cells then start an immune reaction against any cells in the body that contain these antigens.
Dendritic cell vaccines are made from the person in whom they will be used. Doctors remove some immune cells from the patient’s blood and expose them in the lab to cancer cells or cancer antigens, as well as to other chemicals that turn the immune cells into dendritic cells and help them grow. The dendritic cells are then injected back into the patient, where they cause an immune response to cancer cells in the body.
We’ve been working for many years with many biological response modifiers. The antigens used can occur naturally in the body and be stimulated or can be produced in the lab.
The aim of immunostimulating therapies is to alter interaction between the body’s immune defenses and cancer cells, to cause a shock to the system to boost, direct, or restore the body’s ability to fight and kill cancer.