In the fight against cancer, progress has been made in harnessing the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. One area of study is the use of dendritic cells (DCs). These cells are found in skin and the inner linings of the respiratory and digestive systems.

In the innate immune system, natural killer cells (NK cells) function to destroy damaged cells of the organism. They do this by detecting peptide antigens produced by healthy cells, called MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex). Such cells are recognized as ‘self’ by the NK cells. Disease causes a drop in MHC production, and cells with low levels of MHC are recognized as ‘missing self’, which activates NK cells.

Activated NK cells stimulate DCs to migrate to lymph nodes where they interact with lymphocytes. In this way DCs act as messengers between the innate and the adaptive immune systems. DCs capture antigens which they ‘present’ to T lymphocytes in lymph nodes which then produce specific antibodies against either self or foreign targets.

In an experiment, DCs were removed from patients and loaded with tumor-associated antigens before being re-injected into the patient. 18 patients with advanced melanoma were treated with DC cells that had been exposed in this way to 4 melanoma antigens (MelAgs).

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