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Updated: May 1, 2026
Preparation of Tumor Antigen-loaded Mature Dendritic Cells for Immunotherapy
Published on: August 1, 2013
Day 3 Poly (I:C)-activated dendritic cells generated in CellGro for use in cancer immunotherapy trials are fully
Iva Truxova1, Katerina Pokorna2, Kamila Kloudova2
1Department of Immunology, Charles University, Second Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic; Sotio, Prague, Czech Republic.
Background:
Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells that are capable of inducing immune responses. DC-based vaccines are normally generated using a standard 5- to 7-day protocol. To shorten the DC-based vaccine production for use in cancer immunotherapy, we have developed a fast DC protocol by comparing standard DCs (Day 5 DCs) and fast DCs (Day 3 DCs).
Methods:
We tested the generation of Day 5 versus Day 3 DCs using CellGro media and subsequent activation by two activation stimuli: Poly (I:C) and LPS. We evaluated DC morphology, viability, phagocyte activity, cytokine production and ability to stimulate antigen-specific T cells.
Results:
Day 5 and Day 3 DCs exhibited similar phagocytic capacity. Poly (I:C)-activated Day 5 DCs expressed higher levels of the costimulatory and surface molecules CD80, CD86 and HLA-DR compared to Poly (I:C)-activated Day 3 DCs. Nevertheless, LPS-activated Day 5 and Day 3 DCs were phenotypically similar. Cytokine production was generally stronger when LPS was used as the maturation stimulus, and there were no significant differences between Day 5 and Day 3 DCs. Importantly, Day 5 and Day 3 DCs were able to generate comparable numbers of antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells. The number of Tregs induced by Day 5 and Day 3 DCs was also comparable.
Conclusion:
We identified monocyte-derived DCs generated in CellGro for 3 days and activated using Poly (I:C) similarly potent in most functional aspects as DCs produced by the standard 5 day protocol. These results provide the rationale for the evaluation of faster protocols for DC generation in clinical trials.
