HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Free Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (12) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schott, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schott, M.

Endocrine Cancer Center, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Rheumatology, University Hospital Dusseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Dusseldorf, Germany

(Requests for offprints should be addressed to M Schott; Email: schottmt{at}uni-duesseldorf.de)

Dendritic cells (DCs) are highly efficient antigen-presenting cells in the immune system with the potential to regulate the system and induce a cytotoxic T-cell response. As a proof of principle, a multitude of animal and human studies has demonstrated that immunization with antigen-loaded DCs may lead to anti-tumour immune responses with tumour regression and rejection of cancer. The identification of tumour antigens that can be recognized by T lymphocytes has facilitated the development of new protocols and enabled immunologists to monitor immune responses. However, to date, long-term clinical effects on larger numbers of cancer patients are missing, and there is no generally accepted DC generation or activation protocol. This review will focus on the most important findings on the role of DCs within the immune system and how to generate and activate these cells in order to induce cytotoxic immunity in non-endocrine and endocrine malignancies. Recently, we and other researchers reported on DC vaccinations in patients with endocrine malignancies mainly in metastasized medullary thyroid carcinoma resulting in tumour-specific immunity and partial clinical responses in some cases. Based on these and other in vitro data, new DC vaccination protocols for the treatment of patients with endocrine tumours have now been conducted.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Wuttke, C. Papewalis, Y. Meyer, C. Kessler, B. Jacobs, H. S. Willenberg, S. Schinner, C. Kouatchoua, T. Baehring, W. A. Scherbaum, et al. Amino Acid-Modified Calcitonin Immunization Induces Tumor Epitope-Specific Immunity in a Transgenic Mouse Model for Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma Endocrinology, November 1, 2008; 149(11): 5627 - 5634. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]