Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; therapy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; therapy ; Vaccines, Synthetic ; therapeutic use

As the most potent antigen-presenting cells (APC), dendritic cells are important in launching both humoral and cellular immune responses against tumor. Although the high evaluation of DC in immunotherapy for cancer by means of DC vaccines, more studies have indicated DC is a heterogeneous population and proved that DC subsets are prominent determinants for the effectiveness of immune responses. Different DC subsets display different receptors and surface molecules, and express different sets of cytokines/chemokines, which result in distinct immunological outcomes. Clinical trials with ex vivo generated DC vaccines also manifest unexpected immunological tolerance as well as allergic response. It is essential to study the biological aspects of human DC subsets, which may be a key to the generation of novel DC-based vaccines. In this article, the progress of studies on biology of dendritic cells including their origins, differentiation, function and application of DC subsets is reviewed.
Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; therapy

Antigens, Neoplasm ; immunology ; Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; Liver Neoplasms ; therapy

The overall goal of our research projects is to develop effective immunotherapeutic regimens, particularly combining vaccine and gene therapy/ cell therapy strategies. For the development of clinically effective immunotherapy for brain cancers, the following issues are considered to be particularly important: 1) Induction of effective immune responses against tumors (afferent arm of the immune response), 2) Delivery of immune effector cells to the target tumor sites and maintaining the activity of the effector cells (efferent arm), 3) For specific and safe immunotherapy, specific brain tumor rejection antigens have to be identified, 4) Feasibility, safety and efficacy need to be tested in a series of clinical trials. The following presentation summarizes my research projects and demonstrates how each plan will fit in the whole schema of designing successful immunotherapeutic strategies for brain cancers. In this presentation, I would like to focus on our clinical and basic studies related to the vaccine strategies for patients with glioma, and modulation of tumor-microenvironment using bone-marrow derived stroma cells as vehicles for cytokine- gene delivery.
*Biological Therapy ; Brain Neoplasms/*therapy ; Cancer Vaccines/*therapeutic use ; Cytokines/*genetics ; *Gene Therapy ; Humans

Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; therapy ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; Liver Neoplasms ; therapy

Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) have increased constantly in recent years, but treatment for patients with MM is currently unsatisfactory and it is necessary to develop new complementary therapies. Dendritic cells (DCs) are specialized antigen-presenting cells capable of initiating and regulating immune responses. Vaccination with tumor antigen-pulsed DCs has shown to be safe and possesses therapeutic effect against many tumors. In this review, the various types of MM-associated antigens and clinical trials on DC-based immunotherapy in MM are summarized, the development of DC immunotherapy for MM patients in future trials is discussed.
Cancer Vaccines ; immunology ; therapeutic use ; Dendritic Cells ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Multiple Myeloma ; therapy

OBJECTIVETo introduce the recent developments in cancer immunoinformatics with an emphasis on the latest trends and future direction.

DATA SOURCESAll related articles in this review were searched from PubMed published in English from 1992 to 2013. The search terms were cancer, immunoinformatics, immunological databases, and computational vaccinology.

STUDY SELECTIONOriginal articles and reviews those were related to application of cancer immunoinformatics about tumor basic and clinical research were selected.

RESULTSCancer immunoinformatics has been widely researched and applied in a series of fields of cancer research, including computational tools for cancer, cancer immunological databases, computational vaccinology, and cancer diagnostic workflows. Furthermore, the improvement of its theory and technology brings an enlightening insight into understanding and researching cancer and helps expound more deep and complete mechanisms of tumorigenesis and progression.

CONCLUSIONCancer immunoinformatics provides promising methods and novel strategies for the discovery and development of tumor basic and clinical research.

As the potent professional antigen present cell, dendritic cells (DC) play an important role in the initiation for anti-tumor immunity. Prostate cancer (PCa) can reduce the number and function of tumor infiltrated dendritic cells (TIDC) by a series of complicated mechanisms, escaping from immunosurveillance. With the development of immunology, more and more studies focus on TIDC and DC-based vaccines for PCa. However, all these studies are still at the exploratory stage. Here is a review of the related literature.
Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Dendritic Cells ; cytology ; immunology ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Male ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; immunology ; therapy

Immunotherapy plays a compelling role in cancer treatment and has already made remarkable progress. However, many patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors fail to achieve clinical benefits, and the response rates vary among tumor types. New approaches that promote anti-tumor immunity have recently been developed, such as small molecules, bispecific antibodies, chimeric antigen receptor T cell products, and cancer vaccines. Small molecule drugs include agonists and inhibitors that can reach the intracellular or extracellular targets of immune cells participating in innate or adaptive immune pathways. Bispecific antibodies, which bind two different antigens or one antigen with two different epitopes, are of great interest. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell products and cancer vaccines have also been investigated. This review explores the recent progress and challenges of different forms of immunotherapy agents and provides an insight into future immunotherapeutic strategies.
Antibodies, Bispecific/therapeutic use* ; Cancer Vaccines ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; Neoplasms/therapy* ; Receptors, Chimeric Antigen ; T-Lymphocytes

Considerable progress has been made in the field of cancer immunotherapy in recent years. This has been made possible in large part by the identification of new immune-based cellular targets and the development of novel approaches aimed at stimulating the immune system. The role played by the immunosuppressive microenvironment in the development of tumors has been established. The success of checkpoint-inhibiting antibodies and cancer vaccines has marked the beginning of a new era in cancer treatment. This review highlights the clinically relevant principles of cancer immunology and various immunotherapeutic approaches that have either already entered mainstream oncologic practice or are currently in the process of being evaluated in clinical trials. Furthermore, the current barriers to the development of effective immunotherapies and the potential strategies of overcoming them are also discussed.
Antibodies ; therapeutic use ; Antineoplastic Agents ; Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Humans ; Immunotherapy ; methods ; Neoplasms ; therapy