Dendritic Cell Vaccines for Cancer Immunotherapy: The Role of Human Conventional Type 1 Dendritic Cells

• Autor(a) principal: Calmeiro, João
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Carrascal, Mylène A., Tavares, Adriana Ramos, Ferreira, Daniel Alexandre, Gomes, Célia, Falcão, Amílcar, Cruz, Maria Teresa, Neves, Bruno Miguel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10316/106534; https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics12020158
• topic: conventional type 1 dendritic cells; CD141+XCR1+ DCs; dendritic cell-based vaccines; anti-tumor immunotherapy

Throughout the last decades, dendritic cell (DC)-based anti-tumor vaccines have proven to be a safe therapeutic approach, although with inconsistent clinical results. The functional limitations of ex vivo monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDCs) commonly used in these therapies are one of the pointed explanations for their lack of robustness. Therefore, a great effort has been made to identify DC subsets with superior features for the establishment of effective anti-tumor responses and to apply them in therapeutic approaches. Among characterized human DC subpopulations, conventional type 1 DCs (cDC1) have emerged as a highly desirable tool for empowering anti-tumor immunity. This DC subset excels in its capacity to prime antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells and to activate natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells, which are critical factors for an effective anti-tumor immune response. Here, we sought to revise the immunobiology of cDC1 from their ontogeny to their development, regulation and heterogeneity. We also address the role of this functionally thrilling DC subset in anti-tumor immune responses and the most recent efforts to apply it in cancer immunotherapy.