Question: How effective is the dentritic cells treatment on cancer?

Context:
BAFF system plays a key role in the development of autoimmunity, especially in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This often leads to the assumption that BAFF is mostly a B cell factor with a specific role in autoimmunity. Focus on BAFF and autoimmunity, driven by pharmaceutical successes with the recent approval of a novel targeted therapy Belimumab, has relegated other potential roles of BAFF to the background. Far from being SLE-specific, the BAFF system has a much broader relevance in infection, cancer and allergy. 
 silencing of suppressor of cytokine signalling 1 (Socs1) or stably expressing transgenic protein Ags in antigen-presenting dentritic cells (DCs) strongly enhances antigen-specific anti-tumour immunity. However, whether the strong and long-lasting T cell responses induced by the modified DCs could modulate the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment has not been clarified. In this study, we explored the anti-tumour immunity of DCs modified by Socs1-shRNA lentiviral transduction combined with sustained expression of TRP2 in different tumour models. We showed that transfer Socs1-silenced or tumour antigen TRP2 persistent expressed DCs, or DCs modified by combination of Socs1-silencing and sustaining TRP2 expression prior to inoculation of tumour cells delayed B16 tumour cell growth, prolonged mouse survival and increased the ratio of CD8+ T/Treg as well as the CTL activity in tumours. 
To morphometrically quantify CD1a+ dentritic cells and DC-SIGN+ dendritic cells in HIV-positive patients with anal squamous intraepithelial neoplasia and to evaluate the effects of HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy and HPV infection on epithelial and subepithelial dendritic cells.
Our data support an enhancement of the synergistic action caused by HIV-HPV co-infection on the anal epithelium, weakening the DC for its major role in immune surveillance. Notoriously in patients with severe anal intraepithelial neoplasia, the density of CD1a+ epithelial dendritic cells was influenced by the viral load of HIV-1. Our study describes for the first time the density of subepithelial DC-SIGN+ dendritic cells in patients with anal severe anal intraepithelial neoplasia and points to the possibility that a specific therapy for HIV 
transfer of CD40 ligand (CD40L) holds promise as a novel therapy for lymphoid malignancies and a number of solid carcinomas because of its multiple anti-tumor activities. However, membrane-bound CD40L can be cleaved into a soluble form, sCD40L, which contributes to systemic inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases, and induces survival signals in the absence of protein synthesis block, suggesting a deleterious side effect of CD40L gene therapy. We generated a plasmid encoding non-cleavable human CD40L mutant (pcDNA3.1+-CD40L-M) to determine the direct anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects in CD40-positive lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549, to verify activation of immature dentritic cells (DCs) by co-cultivation with the transfected A549 cells and to evaluate the lower expression of sCD40L relative to that of wild-type CD40L (CD40L-WT) transfectant in cell-free supernatants. These studies suggest that gene transfer of the membrane-stable CD40L mutant into CD40-positive cells may provide an efficient and safe method to treat non-small cell lung cancer
 (AITL) is a rare and aggressive neoplasm clinically characterized by sudden onset of constitutional symptoms, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, frequent autoimmune phenomena, particularly hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, and polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia. The lymph node histological picture is also distinctive, constituted by a polymorphic infiltrate, a marked proliferation of high endothelial venules, and a dense meshwork of dentritic cells. The neoplastic CD4+ T-cells represent a minority of the lymph node cell population; its detection is facilitated by the aberrant expression of CD10. Almost all cases arbor an EBV infected B-cell population. Patients with AITL have a poor prognosis with conventional treatment, with a median overall survival of less than 3 years. Patients achieving a good clinical response seem beneficiate from a consolidation with high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. Constitutional symptoms and autoimmune phenomena, and some times also the neoplastic masses may respond to immunosuppressive or immunomodulatory agents such as thalidomide
Survivin expression is a poor prognostic marker in a number of cancers. Clinical trials are currently underway evaluating anti-sense oligonucleotides against Survivin, immunotherapy using Survivin primed dentritic cells and peptide mimics that block interaction of Survivin with Hsp90 resulting in loss of Survivin protein stability. Additional approaches using ribozymes against Survivin mRNA, or dominant-negative cDNA to block Survivin function are in pre-clinical stages. Like many genes, Survivin is alternately spliced and a number of new splice variants have recently been identified. Expression of some of these splice variants correlates with loss of steroid receptors as well as the tumor suppressor p53, in some cancers, suggesting that like wild-type Survivin, at least some of these splice variants may also have prognostic relevance. This review will focus on the current understanding of the function of Survivin splice variants and their expression and sub-cellular localization in normal and neoplastic tissues as well as critically evaluating the potential toxicity of the Survivin directed therapies and their predicted effect on the alternatively spliced Survivin isoforms
 Immunotherapy applying ex vivo-generated and tumor antigen-loaded dentritic cells has been successfully introduced in clinical vaccination protocols and has proven to be feasible and effective in some patients. A better understanding of how dentritic cells succeed to induce and modulate immunity is necessary to optimally exploit dentritic cells in anticancer vaccines. The authors will review novel insights in antigen loading, activation and migration of dentritic cells and their impact on the application of ex vivo-generated dentritic cell vaccines. In addition, novel means to exploit dentritic cells in cancer vaccines by loading and activation of dentritic cells directly in situ and possible obstacles that should be overcome to induce long-lasting immunity in therapeutic settings will be discussed

Answer: Another approach to cancer therapy takes advantage of the normal role of the dendritic cell as an immune educator. Dendritic cells grab antigens from viruses, bacteria, or other organisms and wave them at T cells to recruit their help in an initial T cell immune response. This works well against foreign cells that enter the body, but cancer cells often evade the self/non-self detection system. By modifying dendritic cells, researchers are able to trigger a special kind of autoimmune response that includes a T cell attack of the cancer cells. Because a cancer antigen alone is not enough to rally the immune troops, scientists first fuse a cytokine to a tumor antigen with the hope that this will send a strong antigenic signal. Next, they grow a patient's dendritic cells in the incubator and let them take up this fused cytokine-tumor antigen. This enables the dendritic cells to mature and eventually display the same tumor antigens as appear on the patient's cancer cells. When these special mature dendritic cells are given back to the patient, they wave their newly acquired tumor antigens at the patient's immune system, and those T cells that can respond mount an attack on the patient's cancer cells.