Generating Tumour-Specific Dendritic Cells for Cancer Therapy

使用免疫系统的疗法在癌症治疗方面显示出希望，特别是对黑色素瘤的治疗，但完全持久的反应很少，需要改进。我们认为，以目前的形式，这种免疫疗法不能充分模拟对疾病的自然免疫反应，因此无法有效地控制癌症。特别是，在肿瘤内不会产生警报(危险信号)，因为当身体受到传染病的挑战时就会产生警报。这种危险信号对于免疫系统的有效反应以及免疫系统的白细胞找到途径到达疾病有机体并将其清除至关重要。最强烈的危险信号是由一种被称为树突状细胞(DC)的白细胞产生的。这些细胞检测感染源，并产生生化警报分子，提醒整个免疫系统注意危险，从而对疾病采取强有力的行动。然而，肿瘤实际上只是我们身体的一部分，不会产生危险信号。我们的目标是利用基因改造使DC将肿瘤视为一种威胁并产生危险信号。这些基因修饰的DC单独或与其他免疫疗法结合使用，都可能导致肿瘤的破坏。

Therapies using the immune system are showing promise for cancer treatment, particularly for melanoma, but complete durable responses are few and improvements are needed. We believe that such immunotherapies, in their current form, fail to sufficiently mimic a natural immune reaction to disease, and therefore fall short of effectively controling cancer. In particular, an alarm (danger signal) is not produced within tumour as it would be when the body is challenged by infectious agents. Such danger signals are critical for the immune system to respond effectively and for white blood cells of the immune system to find their way to the disease organism and eliminate it. The strongest danger signals are produced by a type of white blood cell known as a dendritic cell (DC). These cells detect infectious agents and produce biochemical alarm molecules that alert the entire immune system to the danger resulting in powerful action against the disease. However, tumours are really just a part of our own body and no danger signal is produced. It is our aim to use genetic modification to make DC see tumours as a threat and produce danger signals. These gene-modified DC either alone, or in combination with other immunotherapies, may lead to destruction of tumours.