Practical blood dendritic cell vaccination for immunotherapy of multiple myeloma

Therapeutic vaccination combined with new drugs may cure multiple myeloma (MM). We have developed a bio-process to purify CMRF-56 monoclonal antibody (mAb) and a standard operating procedure to immunoselect blood dendritic cells (BDC). Leucopheresed mononuclear cells were cultured overnight, labelled with CMRF-56 mAb and BDC prepared using a clinical scale immunoselection system. The mean BDC yield from healthy donors was 48% (n = 6, purity 28%). Preparations from MM patients (n = 6, yield 47%, purity 35%) primed cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) to clinically relevant MM antigens. This procedure can be performed readily by clinical cell manufacturing units to facilitate BDC vaccination studies.