Recent advances of dendritic cells (DCs)-based immunotherapy for malignant gliomas

Immunotherapy is a new light of hope for the treatment of malignant gliomas. The brain is no longer believed to be an immunologically privileged organ. The major advantage of immunotherapy is the tumor-specific cytotoxic effect on the tumor cells with minimal side effects. Autologous dendritic cells (DCs)-based immunotherapy is a promising and feasible method. DCs are the most potent antigen-presenting cells (APCs). DCs prime T lymphocytes by epitopic major histocompatibility (MHC) class I and II for CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and CD4(+) T helper cells, respectively. From the tissue specimen examination after DCs-based immunotherapy, CD8(+) CTLs have replaced T regulatory cells (Tregs) as the major dominant tissue infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). CD8(+) CTLs play a key role in the tumor response, which may also be effective against cancer stem cells. DCs themselves also produce many cytokines including interferon-gamma and interleukin (IL-2) to kill the tumor cells. From the preliminary better outcomes in the literature for malignant gliomas, DC-based immunotherapy may improve tumor response by increasing the survival rate and time. It is recommended that DC-based immunotherapy is applied as soon as possible with conjunctive radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Malignant gliomas have heterogeneity of tissue-associated antigens (TAAs). To find universal common antigens through different kinds of tumor culture may be the essential issue for tumor vaccine development in the future.