DENDRITIC CELLTHERAPY

Dendritic Cells – Dendritic Cell Therapy – Immunotherapy


In contrast to conventional cancer therapies, for example, dendritic cell treatment harnesses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Side effects are therefore very rare and, if at all, minor – and resolve quickly. For this reason, this therapy can be performed on an outpatient basis without requiring a hospital stay. Experienced therapists sensibly combine dendritic cell treatment with other biological therapies, and the sequence and combination of the various procedures is crucial to success! Our partner laboratory, which complies with German legal regulations and is GMP-certified, has performed well over 1,500 successful dendritic cell therapies since 2002. A particularly modern and effective type of dendritic cell is produced here and administered in a special combination with other treatments.

What about the actual success of this therapy in cancer?
An analysis of patients treated since 2001, reviewed by independent experts from Belgium, produced the following results: Of 134 people with inoperable pancreatic cancer, 55 percent are still alive after one year when they receive multiple doses of dendritic cells in combination with chemotherapy. Fifty percent of patients are still alive after 13.4 months. By comparison, with the most effective drug, the number is only 23 percent. Half of those treated with chemotherapy can only survive for seven months. Of 34 patients with colon cancer, 40 to 50 percent develop metastases after tumor removal and chemotherapy. With additional treatment with dendritic cells, the number is only 9 percent.
“With dendritic cell therapy, the risk of metastasis also decreases from 31 to 8 percent. The five-year survival rate increases from 74 to 97 percent,” one doctor summarizes the results. It’s also important to note that immunization with dendritic cells spares patients nausea, skin rashes, tissue swelling, and other side effects.

Dendritic Cells
Fighting a tumor or cancer with our own immune system has been an ideal situation and a medical dream since time immemorial. Now, since the discovery of a very special immunotherapy using dendritic cells in the late 1990s, this dream is more likely than ever. Professor Ralph Steinmann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for this in 2011.
Since then, a veritable avalanche of research has erupted, and more than 7,000 scientific papers have been published on the subject of dendritic cells. Dendritic cell therapy is receiving increasing attention in many therapeutic and research institutions around the world.

What are dendritic cells?
Canadian immunologist Ralph Marvin Steinman is considered the discoverer of dendritic cells. He conducted groundbreaking research into the body’s immune system. In the early 1970s, Steinman worked as a scientist at a university in Manhattan, New York City. One day, he saw something through his microscope that no one had ever described before: strange cells with branched, spindle-shaped extensions. At that time, important players in the immune system were already known, such as B cells, which help recognize foreign invaders, and T cells, which attack such invaders. Steinman’s suspicion that his newly discovered cells played a key role in activating B and T cells proved to be correct. He called them dendritic cells. Today, we know that they play a crucial role in detecting foreign structures and triggering immune reactions against them. When he himself was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007, he conducted a self-experiment with dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells belong to a very special group of cells. Along with monocytes, macrophages, and B lymphocytes, they are the so-called “professional” antigen-presenting cells of the immune system. They are the guardians of our immune system. Dendritic cells are constantly searching the body for invaders or even pathologically degenerated cells, such as those found in tumors. Scientists at the University of Bonn, together with colleagues from the universities of Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Utah (USA), and Melbourne (Australia), have discovered that dendritic cells first check with other cells for reassurance. The scientists have published their findings in the journal Nature Immunology.

Prof. Dr. J.Hinrich Peters 1938-

Dendritic cells have long been a promising candidate. Although their formal definition dates back to 1975, their key role in the overall immune response was not recognized until the 1990s. It is thanks to the research work of Professor Dr. Hinrich J. Peters that dendritic cell therapy is even possible in humans. His story is also known as the “Göttingen solo effort.”
In 1996, the use of dendritic cells as a cellular cancer vaccine was first considered. Several research groups around the world subsequently addressed this topic. In 2007, hematologists at the Charité University Medicine Berlin demonstrated that vaccination with specific autologous antigen-presenting cells from the peripheral blood triggers an immune response in some patients with CML, in which activated T lymphocytes target the cancer cells. However, a real breakthrough did not occur until around 2009.

Dendritic cells are constantly on the move, searching various parts of the body for foreign structures. These include bacteria, viruses, and even the degenerated surfaces of tumor cells. Once they detect something, they swallow it and then present it on their own surface. It makes no difference whether it’s a small protein or an entire microorganism. After contact with a foreign body, they migrate to the nearest lymph node. There, they reveal their discovery to other immune cells, such as killer T cells, which have been trained to attack specific foreign structures. The body’s immune response is thus initiated!


Therapy Process

Dendritic cell therapy is a natural and gentle treatment for cancer. The principle of action of dendritic cells:
Dendritic cells have been used in oncology worldwide for years. While conventional treatment methods such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are usually associated with immune-altering side effects, modern medicine is increasingly attempting to use biological methods. These biological procedures promote self-healing and strengthen the immune system. Dendritic cells are also part of this.
The older a person gets, the more their immune system weakens, and more and more experts are linking this fact to the increase in malignant tumors. Therefore, preventive oncology strives to strengthen the immune system even in old age. Dendritic cell therapy is not yet clinically routine for cancer, but the results of existing clinical studies are promising.

Such a therapy requires a special laboratory, as the extraction of dendritic cells is very complex. The data available to date have not shown any medical disadvantages for patients. However, the positive therapeutic effects have been impressively demonstrated in the vast majority of studies. Dendritic cells are extracted from approximately 250 ml of the patient’s blood under special laboratory conditions. The law requires production according to cGMP in a clean room. The patient’s own (autologous) dendritic cells are multiplied in the laboratory for approximately seven days before being injected back into the patient.

Once injected into the body, dendritic cells quickly find their way to the lymph nodes or helper and killer cells circulating in the blood. There, they directly present the tumor cells to them. This can significantly improve the body’s immune response and break the immune system’s tolerance to tumors. Vaccination with dendritic cells can be used at any stage of a disease.

Studies and reports about dendritic cells:

  • • 2013 F.Gansauge, Boch, Schwarz: Effectivity of Long Antigen Exposition Dendritic Cell Therapy (LANEX-DC) in the Palliative Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
  • • 24.01.2013 Bauer, C. et al.: Dendritic Cell-Based Vaccination of Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Carcinoma: Results of a Pilot Study. In: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy 60, S. 1097 – 1107, 2011
  • • Sept. 2009 Palucka, A. K. et al.: Taming Cancer by Inducing Immunity via Dendritic Cells. In: Immunological Reviews 220, S. 129 – 150, 2007
  • • April 2010 Building on Dendritic Cell Subsets to Improve Cancer Vaccines
  • • 19.Januar 1973 – Steinman, R. M., Cohn, Z. A.: Identification of a Novel Cell Type in Peripheral Lymphoid Organs of Mice. I. Morphology, Quantitation, Tissue Distribution. In: Journal of Experimental Medicine 137, S. 1142 – 1162, 1973
  • Banchereau J, Steinman RM: Dendritic cells and the control of immunity. Nature 1998; 392: 245–252.
  • Brunner C, Seiderer J, Schlamp A et al.: Enhanced dendritic cell maturation by TNF- or cytidine-phosphate-guanosine DNA drives T cell activation in vitro and therapeutic anti-tumor immune responses in vivo. J Immunol 2000; 165: 6278–6286.
  • Gilboa E: How tumors escape immune destruction and what we can do about it. Cancer Immunol Immunother 1999; 48: 382–385.
  • • Hartmann G, Weiner GJ, Krieg AM: CpG DNA: a potent signal for growth, activation, and maturation of human dendritic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1999; 96: 9305–9310.
  • Jonuleit H, Kuhn U, Muller G et al.: Pro-inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandins induce maturation of potent immunostimulatory dendritic cells under fetal calf serum-free conditions. Eur J Immunol 1997; 27: 3135–3142.
  • Ludewig B, Ochsenbein AF, Odermatt B, Paulin D, Hengartner H, Zinkernagel RM: Immunotherapy with dendritic cells directed against tumor antigens shared with normal host cells results in severe autoimmune disease. J Exp Med 2000; 191: 795–804.
  • Maraskovsky E, Daro E, Roux E et al.: In vivo generation of human dendritic cell subsets by Flt3 ligand. Blood 2000; 96: 878–884.
  • Matzinger P: Tolerance, danger, and the extended family. Annu Rev Immunol 1994; 12: 991–1045.
  • Pulendran B, Banchereau J, Maraskovsky E, Maliszewski C: Modulating the immune response with dendritic cells and their growth factors. Trends Immunol 2001; 22: 41–47.
  • Romani N, Gruner S, Brang D et al.: Proliferating dendritic cell progenitors in human blood. J Exp Med 1994; 180: 83–93.
  • Schnurr M, Scholz C, Rothenfusser S et al.: Apoptotic pancreatic tumor cells are superior to cell lysate in promoting cross-priming of cytotoxic T cells and activate NK and T-cells. Cancer Res 2002; 62: 2347–2352.
  • Schnurr M, Then F, Galambos P et al.: Extracellular ATP and TNF-a synergize in the activation and maturation of human dendritic cells. J Immunol 2000; 165: 4704– 4709.
  • Schuler G, Steinman RM: Murine epidermal Langerhans cells mature into potent immunostimulatory dendritic cells in vitro. J Exp Med 1985; 161: 526–546.
  • Steinman RM, Cohn ZA: Identification of a novel cell type in peripheral lymphoid organs of mice. I. Morphology, quantitation, tissue distribution. J Exp Med 1973; 137: 1142–1162.
  • Zitvogel L, Regnault A, Lozier A et al.: Eradication of established murine tumors using a novel cell-free vaccine: dendritic cell-derived exosomes. Nat Med 1998; 4: 594–600.