Preparation of anti-cancer vaccine / / immunotherapy for ovarian cancer under conditions of good manufacturing practice

Abstract

Generation of clinical-grade dendritic cell-based vaccine for immunotherapy of ovarian cancer Introduction: Dendritic cells (DCs) the most potent antigen presenting cells. Recent technological advances allow for generation of large numbers of DCs from peripheral blood monocytes. Administration of activated DCs loaded with tumor antigens is thus an attractive approach for immunotherapy of cancer. Prerequisite for the initiation of clinical trials in cancer immunotherapy is the development of protocols for DC-based vaccine generation according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions. Aim of the study: Development of protocol for the generation of clinical grade vaccine based on activated DCs loaded with killed tumor cells for use in the immunotherapy of ovarian cancer. Materials and methods: Immature DCs were generated from peripheral blood monocytes of healthy donors. We tested Cell Gro and RPMI+5% pooled human serum (5% PHS) as clinical grade culture media. Immature DCs were then activated by three distinct stimuli (Poly I:C, LPS and cocktail of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF, IL-1 and IL-6)). Activated DCs were evaluated for their phenotypic and functional characteristics and for their capacity to activate antigen specific and/or regulatory T cells. Results: Culture of monocytes in Cell Gro yielded..