Using a molecular switch to turn on cancer vaccines
The immune system is capable of recognising tumour growth, and naturally mounts an anti-cancer defence. Dendritic cells (DCs) can take up tumour-derived molecules (antigens) and present them to T cells, and those 'primed' T cells are then able to recognise and kill tumour cells. In recent years, researchers have attempted to capitalise upon these natural immune responses to develop new therapies- namely, by generating a pool of tumour antigen-pulsed DCs that might be used as vaccines to augment the T-cell responses of cancer patients. In clinical trials, these DC vaccines have had limited success, in part because the protocols to generate mature and active DCs in vitro are imperfect. Specifically, generation of mature DCs requires activation of Toll-Like receptors (TLRs), usually achieved by administration of lipopolysaccharide, which can cause toxic shock in humans and can promote apoptosis...