The EORTC Breast Cancer Group: 40 years of research contributing to improve breast cancer management

Dendritic cell immunotherapy for breast cancer

Novel adjuvant therapies are urgently needed to complement the existing treatment options for breast cancer. The advent of the use of dendritic cells (DCs) for cancer immunotherapy provides a unique opportunity to overcome the relative non-immunogenic property of breast tumours and address the underlying immunodeficiency. To date, the success of this approach has been limited, possibly due to the targeting of specific tumour antigens that rapidly mutate and, thus, become undetectable to the immune system. A more efficient approach would include preparations encompassing multiple antigens, such as those provided by loading of whole tumour cells or tumour RNA. It is proposed that targeting mammary stem cells responsible for resistance to chemo/immunotherapy, through the expression of a broad array of wild-type and mutated tumour antigens in the context of DCs, will become a mainstay for immunotherapy of breast cancer.