[Regenerative medicine] WT1 dendritic cell vaccine therapy
What are Dendritic Cells?
Dendritic cell vaccine therapy is a type of cancer immunotherapy that utilizes the function of your own dendritic cells.
Dendritic cells are a type of immune cell that play the role of "commander" in anti-tumor immunity, informing lymphocytes of cancer markers and causing them to attack cancer. However, if there are too many cancer cells, the function of dendritic cells may not be able to keep up, resulting in the proliferation of the cancer cells. To solve this problem, "dendritic cell vaccine therapy" has been developed, in which dendritic cells are cultured outside the body, multiplied, and then returned to the patient's body.
How dendritic cell vaccine therapy works
Dendritic cell vaccine therapy involves using a patient's own cancer tissue or artificially created substances with the characteristics of cancer (cancer antigens) to have the patient's dendritic cells recognize the cancer markers and then returning them to the body.
Artificial cancer antigen dendritic cell vaccine therapy
Features of this treatment
● This is a cancer vaccine treatment that uses artificially synthesized cancer markers (artificial cancer antigens).
● It is eligible when the type of artificial cancer antigen matches the blood type of the patient's white blood cells.
● It can be used in combination with almost all cancer treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, palliative care, etc.).
About the artificial cancer antigen "WT1 peptide"
To teach dendritic cells to recognize cancer markers, cancer tissue extracted from the patient through surgery or other means is required. However, there is a problem in that only a limited number of people can provide tissue, such as when the patient has already undergone surgery or when surgery is difficult due to their condition.
So they came up with a method to artificially synthesize cancer markers (artificial cancer antigens) that are frequently expressed in many types of cancer, and have dendritic cells memorize them. Among these artificial cancer antigens, the one that has attracted attention is the "WT1 peptide." This cancer antigen is a cancer antigen that has been confirmed in most solid cancers and leukemias, making it possible to provide treatment to many patients.
WT1 expression rate in each cancer type
Source: Jpn J Clin Oncol 2010:10:40(5)377-387 (modified)
Major risks and side effects
During blood collection, you may experience symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and subcutaneous bleeding, and during blood component collection, you may experience numbness around the mouth and hands.
When administered, symptoms such as fever, localized redness and swelling, and, rarely, blister formation may occur.
Autologous cancer tissue dendritic cell vaccine therapy
Features of this treatment
This is a dendritic cell vaccine therapy in which cancer tissue is extracted from the patient's own body during surgery and used as a marker for cancer.
● This treatment is for patients who can have cancer tissue extracted through surgery.
● It can be used in combination with almost all cancer treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, palliative care, etc.).
Regarding autologous cancer tissue collection
The autologous cancer tissue must be fresh, immediately after surgery and prior to any drug treatment.
Therefore, with the cooperation of your doctor or surgeon, you will need to collect cancer tissue in a container designated by us immediately after surgery and bring it to our clinic within 24 hours after surgery. Please contact us in advance for more details.
Major risks and side effects
During blood collection, you may experience symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and subcutaneous bleeding, and during blood component collection, you may experience numbness around the mouth and hands.
When administered, symptoms such as fever, localized redness and swelling, and, rarely, blister formation may occur.
Treatment Overview
This treatment is an elective medical treatment.
Flow of dendritic cell vaccine therapy
1. Harvesting of raw materials
To obtain the blood cells necessary to create the dendritic cell vaccine, apheresis or whole blood is collected.
2. Preparation of Dendritic Cell Vaccine
Monocytes collected by blood component or whole blood collection are stimulated with cytokines such as GM-CSF and IL-4 to create a dendritic cell vaccine (GM-CSF, IL-4, cytokines, etc. are substances that are also present in the bodies of healthy people).
3. Administration of dendritic cell vaccine
The dendritic cell vaccine that has been created is injected intradermally or subcutaneously into areas close to the lymph nodes, such as the groin, neck, or armpits, approximately every 2-3 weeks for a total of 5-7 injections (approximately 3 injections if whole blood is drawn).
Treatment period and frequency
The treatment plan will vary depending on the patient's condition and symptoms, so we will decide after you have undergone an examination and tests.
Cost (private medical treatment)
Please note that treatment will vary depending on the patient's condition and symptoms, so we will inform you of the treatment plan after it has been decided.
About efficacy
Research into this therapy is being conducted at many facilities, and on April 30, 2010, the US government agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), approved the marketing of a prostate cancer treatment using dendritic cells. In Japan, clinical trials for pancreatic cancer are underway at Wakayama Medical University.
In addition, it has been reported that tumor markers can be reduced and life extension can be expected in unresectable advanced pancreatic cancer (※1) , advanced non-small cell lung cancer (※2) , unresectable advanced and recurrent biliary tract cancer (※3) , recurrent ovarian cancer (※4) , and locally recurrent gastric cancer (※5) . However, it is also true that its effectiveness has not yet been established in some respects.
*1) Cancer Immunology, Immunotherary. 2014.63:797.
*2)European Journal of Cancer. 2013.49:852.
*3) Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. 2013.17:1609.
*4) Journal of Ovarian Research. 2014.7:48.
*5) World Journal of Surgical Oncology. 2014.12:390.
Regenerative medicine can only be provided by licensed doctors at facilities whose notification to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been accepted. Our hospital is a medical facility that has submitted a Type 3 regenerative medicine provision plan and obtained a plan number under the Regenerative Medicine Act (Act on Ensuring the Safety of Regenerative Medicine, etc.).