Timmerman J M, Levy R
Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, California 94305, USA.
Annu Rev Med. 1999;50:507-29. doi: 10.1146/annurev.med.50.1.507.
Human tumors express a number of protein antigens that can be recognized by T cells, thus providing potential targets for cancer immunotherapy. Dendritic cells (DCs) are rare leukocytes that are uniquely potent in their ability to present antigens to T cells, and this property has prompted their recent application to therapeutic cancer vaccines. Isolated DCs loaded with tumor antigen ex vivo and administered as a cellular vaccine have been found to induce protective and therapeutic anti-tumor immunity in experimental animals. In pilot clinical trials of DC vaccination for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and melanoma, induction of anti-tumor immune responses and tumor regressions have been observed. Additional trials of DC vaccination for a variety of human cancers are under way, and methods for targeting tumor antigens to DCs in vivo are also being explored. Exploitation of the antigen-presenting properties of DCs thus offers promise for the development of effective cancer immunotherapies.
人类肿瘤表达多种可被T细胞识别的蛋白质抗原，因此为癌症免疫治疗提供了潜在靶点。树突状细胞（DCs）是罕见的白细胞，其在向T细胞呈递抗原的能力方面具有独特的强大作用，这一特性促使其最近被应用于治疗性癌症疫苗。已发现离体负载肿瘤抗原并作为细胞疫苗给药的分离DCs可在实验动物中诱导保护性和治疗性抗肿瘤免疫。在针对非霍奇金淋巴瘤和黑色素瘤患者的DC疫苗接种的初步临床试验中，已观察到抗肿瘤免疫反应的诱导和肿瘤消退。针对多种人类癌症的DC疫苗接种的其他试验正在进行中，同时也在探索将肿瘤抗原在体内靶向DCs的方法。因此，利用DCs的抗原呈递特性为开发有效的癌症免疫疗法带来了希望。
