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 the number of cancer cells increases too much, the 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" was 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 is a treatment in which the patient's own cancer tissue or artificially created substances with the characteristics of cancer (cancer antigens) are used to make the patient's dendritic cells recognize the cancer markers and then returned to the body.
Artificial cancer antigen dendritic cell vaccine therapy
Characteristics of this treatment
● This is a cancer vaccine treatment that uses artificially synthesized cancer markers (artificial cancer antigens).
● This is applicable 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 the cancer marker, cancer tissue extracted from the patient through surgery or other means is required. However, the issue was that only a limited number of patients could obtain tissue, as some patients had already undergone surgery, or their condition made surgery difficult.
What was devised was a method of artificially synthesizing cancer markers (artificial cancer antigens) that are frequently expressed in many types of cancer and having dendritic cells memorize them. Among these artificial cancer antigens, the one that has attracted attention is the "WT1 peptide." This cancer antigen 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
Symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and subcutaneous bleeding may occur during blood collection, and numbness around the mouth and hands may occur during component collection.
When administered, symptoms such as fever, local redness and swelling, and, rarely, blister formation may occur.
Autologous cancer tissue dendritic cell vaccine therapy
Characteristics of this treatment
● This is a dendritic cell vaccine therapy in which cancer tissue is collected from the patient's own body through 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 before any drug treatment.
Therefore, with the cooperation of your doctor or surgeon, you will need to collect the cancer tissue immediately after surgery in a container designated by us and bring it to our clinic within 24 hours of surgery. Please contact us in advance for more details.
Major risks and side effects
Symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and subcutaneous bleeding may occur during blood collection, and numbness around the mouth and hands may occur during component collection.
When administered, symptoms such as fever, local 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. Extraction of raw materials
To obtain the blood cells necessary for producing dendritic cell vaccines, apheresis or whole blood is collected.
2. Preparation of Dendritic Cell Vaccines
Monocytes collected by apheresis 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 individuals).
3. Administration of dendritic cell vaccine
The dendritic cell vaccine is then injected intradermally or subcutaneously into areas close to the lymph nodes, such as the groin, neck, or armpits, approximately 2-3 weeks apart, a total of 5-7 times (approximately 3 times if whole blood is collected).
Treatment period and number of times
The treatment will vary depending on the patient's condition and symptoms, so we will make a decision after the patient has undergone an examination and tests.
Cost (free medical treatment)
4,070,000 to 8,140,000 yen/course (4 sessions)
About effectiveness
Research into this therapy is being conducted at many facilities, and on April 30, 2010, the US 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.
It has also been reported that tumor marker reduction and life extension effects 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 in accordance with the Regenerative Medicine Act (Act on the Safety of Regenerative Medicine, etc.).