In situ dendritic cell vaccination for the treatment of glioma and literature review.

Glioma is one of the greatest threats to human health, and invasive growth of glioma is its major cause of death. Inhibiting or blocking angiogenesis can effectively inhibit tumor growth and metastasis or dramatically reduce the size of the original lesion. Therefore, anti-angiogenic therapy has currently become the most promising treatment strategy for glioma. Although dendritic cells (DCs) used in DC-based immunotherapy are loaded with tumor-associated antigens, the anti-tumor immune response is effectively stimulated in cytotoxic specific T lymphocytes (CTLs), thereby achieving targeted killing of tumor cells without harming surrounding normal cells. This makes it a highly promising new form of therapy. This article reviews the existing evidence regarding in situ DC vaccination for the treatment of glioma and puts forward hypotheses regarding patient, tumor, and technical factors and warrant further investigation.