Table 1.

Examples of clinical trials testing vaccination with ex vivo DCs

Vaccine and antigen	Indication	Key observations	Refs
GM-CSF–IL-4 DCs with or without HLA-A*0201-restricted peptides or peptides alone	Metastatic prostate cancer	One of the first studies that tested the immunogenicity of DCs	157
GM-CSF–IL-4 DCs with peptides, tumour lysates or autologous tumour-eluted peptides	Stage IV melanoma, renal cell carcinoma and malignant glioma	Loading DCs with complex antigen preparations Objective clinical responses	158–160
Blood DCs and idiotype antigens	Multiple myeloma	Immunogenicity of DCs Tumour regression	161,162
Mature GM-CSF–IL-4 DCs and peptides	Stage IV melanoma	Well-controlled and validated vaccine manufacture process Testing mature DCs Immunogenicity Objective clinical responses	163
CD34+ HPC-derived DCs and peptides	Stage IV melanoma	One of the first studies to test CD34+ HPC-derived DCs Loading vaccines with a mixture of well-defined peptides Durable immune responses in long-term survivors Objective clinical responses	164,165
FLT3 ligand-expanded blood DCs and altered peptides	Advanced CEA+ cancer	Immunogenicity Objective clinical responses	166
Immature GM-CSF–IL-4 DCs	Healthy volunteers	Antigen-specific inhibition of effector T cell function after injection of immature DCs	167
GM-CSF–IL-4 DCs and tumour lysates	Refractory paediatric solid tumours	Immunogenicity Objective clinical responses	168
Mature cryopreserved GM-CSF–IL-4 DCs	Stage IV melanoma	Immunogenicity	169
DCs loaded with autologous tumour RNA	Colon cancer	Feasibility Immunogenicity	170
DCs loaded with killed allogeneic tumour cells	Stage IV melanoma	Immunogenicity Durable objective clinical responses Long-term survival	171,172
Monocyte-derived DCs loaded with the NK T cell ligand α-galactosylceramide	Advanced cancer	Adjuvant effect of NK cell activation on CD8+ T cell-mediated immune response	173
Monocyte-derived DCs	Melanoma	In vivo identification of antigen-specific immune response by PET imaging in patients	174
		Route of DC administration affects T cell activation, with intra-dermal administration showing better responses than intra-nodal administration	175
Comparative study of CD34+ HPC-derived Langerhans cells versus monocyte-derived DCs	Melanoma	Langerhans cell-based vaccines stimulated significantly greater tyrosinase-HLA-A*0201 tetramer reactivity than the monocyte-derived DC vaccines	176
Type 1-polarized monocyte-derived DCs	Glioma	Combination of DC vaccination with polyICLC to trigger systemic inflammation driven by type I interferon family members	177

CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; DC, dendritic cell; IL-4, interleukin-4; GM-CSF, granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor; HLA, human leukocyte antigen; HPC, haematopoietic progenitor cell; NK cell, natural killer cell; PET, positron emission tomography; polyICLC, polyinosinic–polycytidylic acid stabilized with poly-L-lysine and carboxymethylcellulose.