Frequency of myeloid dendritic cells can predict the efficacy of Wilms' tumor 1 peptide vaccination.

BACKGROUND

The object of this study was to investigate the clinical predictive capability of peripheral myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) in Wilms' tumor 1 (WT1) vaccine therapy for patients with gynaecological cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Six patients with WT1/human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*2402-positive gynaecological cancer were included in this study. The patients received intradermal injections of a modified 9-mer WT1 peptide every week for 12 weeks. Peripheral blood samples were obtained at 0, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after the initial vaccination. Circulating DCs were detected by flow cytometry.

RESULTS

The frequencies of CD14(+)CD16(+)CD33(+)CD85(+) myeloid DCs were significantly higher in the therapeutically effective group than in therapeutically inert group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

These results suggested that myeloid DCs, which should be associated with inducing cytotoxic T-cells, provided additional prognostic information in the use of cancer peptide vaccine.