Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026
Preparation of Tumor Antigen-loaded Mature Dendritic Cells for Immunotherapy
Published on: August 1, 2013
Results of a phase I clinical study using dendritic cell vaccinations for thyroid cancer
Koichiro Kuwabara1, Toshihide Nishishita, Mariko Morishita
1Department of Advanced Medical Science, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Objective:
We assessed the feasibility and efficacy of dendritic cell (DC) therapy for advanced thyroid papillary and follicular cancer.
Design:
Six Japanese patients (2 men and 4 women; aged 46-72 years, mean 60 years), who were diagnosed as advanced thyroid cancer with refractory distant metastases (papillary, n=5; follicular, n=1), were enrolled. Patients were first vaccinated weekly for 4 weeks with 10(7) autologous tumor lysate-pulsed monocyte-derived mature DCs followed by fortnightly vaccinations for 8 weeks (total=8 vaccinations). Lowdose (350 KIU) interleukin-2 was also administered for 3 days at each vaccination. Clinical response, adverse effects, delayed-type hypersensitivity skin testing (DTH), and IFN-( ) production by peripheral CD3(+) lymphocytes were evaluated.
Main Outcome:
Of the 6 patients, disease was assessed as stable in 2 and as progressive in 4. No adverse events were observed. Results of DTH and IFN-( ) production in peripheral lymphocytes did not correlate to the clinical response.
Conclusions:
DC immunotherapy could be administered to patients with thyroid papillary or follicular cancer without substantial side effects.
