Dendrite cell therapy

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Harnessing Dendritic Cells: Explore the Future of Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is type of cancer treatment that uses certain parts of a person’s immune system to fight against cancer. This can be done in a broadly two different ways: either stimulating your own immune system to work harder or smarter to attack cancer cells or giving you immune system components, such as man-made immune system proteins.

Dendritic cells are in every person’s blood stream and are blood cells. They normally function as an immune cell but are present in very small numbers. Their usual function is to identify a foreign substance including cancer cells and bringing foreign substance to the attention of the rest of the immune system like T lymphocyte cells. The activated immune system is then able to circulates throughout the body and destroy the cancer cells.

Which Cancers Can Be Treated with Dendritic Cell Therapy?

While all cancers theoretically can be treated using this therapy, research shows significant results in:

Prostate cancer
Colorectal cancer
Ovarian cancer
Breast cancer
Melanoma (skin cancer)
Pancreatic cancer
Renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer)

With over 200 successful clinical trials, this therapy is one of the safest and most effective biological treatments available for cancer. It is approved by both the US FDA and the Indian FDA.

What is Cancer Immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is an innovative approach to cancer treatment that leverages your immune system to fight cancer. The therapy works in two powerful ways:

Stimulating your immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells.
Providing immune system components, like proteins, to enhance the body’s ability to target cancer cells.

What are Dendritic Cells?

Dendritic cells are key players in your immune system. These special cells detect cancer and foreign substances in the body, presenting them to T lymphocytes—your body’s “soldiers”—to trigger an immune response. In dendritic cell therapy, we supercharge these natural defenders to attack cancer cells more effectively.

How Does Dendritic Cell Therapy Work at Novo Institute?

Personalized Treatment Plan
Every patient’s treatment is carefully customized to their unique cancer profile. Our medical team conducts a comprehensive assessment, including reviewing medical history, physical exams, and necessary imaging (e.g., CT scans), to ensure the therapy is suited for each individual.

Custom Vaccine Creation
Once you are deemed eligible, we prepare your personalized dendritic cell vaccine. This involves:

Cancer Biopsy: A small tissue sample from the tumor is collected.
Blood Sample: We collect 50 ml of your blood to isolate important immune cells, such as monocytes.

In our state-of-the-art lab, tumor antigens are extracted from the biopsy sample through a specialized process. Simultaneously, your blood sample is processed to produce immature dendritic cells, which are then primed with the tumor antigens.

After a rigorous quality check, these potent dendritic cells are ready to fight your cancer.

Treatment Administration
Each dendritic cell infusion is administered under the supervision of an expert oncologist. The infusion takes approximately 30 minutes and is performed in a safe, sterile environment. The number of doses required depends on the type and stage of your cancer, typically ranging from 3 to 6 doses.

Post-Treatment Monitoring
After completing your recommended cycles, we conduct CT or PET scans along with blood tests to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. Most patients report tumor shrinkage, an improved quality of life, and extended survival rates.

Manufacture of Dendritic Cell Vaccination

The therapy uses patient’s own blood and tumor antigen. Monocyte will be separated from blood. Then monocyte will be cultured with cytokines GM-CSF and IL-4 to convert into undifferentiated dendritic cell. For clinical implementation of DC therapy; valid technique for generation of clinical grade DC processing defined phenotype and functional characteristics need to be developed. Peripheral blood monocytes represent most common source for in vitro DC preparation. Large number of DC can be generated by invitro differentiation of peripheral blood monocytes which are isolated from whole blood or Leukopheresis products by density gradient centrifugation and adherence.

The differentiation of monocyte into dendritic cells requires cytokines like GM-CSF and IL-4. The immature DC can be further mature by adding mature DC by adding maturation stimulus. Quality control of the clinical grade of the DC preparation should include DC yield; purity; viability; cryopreservation as well as phenotype and functional parameters. In the last decade, a large number of clinical trials were carried out to establish the therapeutic efficacy of DC vaccines. Among the over 200 DC based clinical trials so far, solid tumors were the most common cancer treated which established the feasibility and safety of DC vaccines.

Which type of cancer can be treated with dendritic cell therapy?

Theroretically all cancers can be treated. To date, therapeutic benefit has been documented for prostate cancer, colorectal, ovarian, breast, melanoma, pancreatic, renal cell cancers have more success rate. If interested, patients should seek professional advice on DC therapy against specific cancer.

Requirement
Whole blood 100 ml Biopsy sample of cancer tissue or Recombinant proteins

Duration
Total 8 days are require to prepare dendritic cell vaccination

Product
Dendritic cell formulation contain 3 doses each of 5-10 million DCs. Each has to be administer after every 2 weeks

At what cancer stage should a patient consider Dendritic Cell therapy?

The disease is stable
The patient is free of disease but at a risk for recurrence
Palliation is required
Patient requires immune-therapy in addition to ongoing chemo/radiation therapy
When all other treatment options have been exhausted
When the patient is not fit to receive chemo/radiation

Expected outcomes & Benefits of this therapy

If you or your loved ones are battling cancer, especially in advanced stages, dendritic cell therapy offers a lifesaving alternative to traditional treatments.
Whether newly diagnosed or relapsed, this therapy can improve outcomes and provide new hope in the fight against cancer.

Targeted Anti-Tumor Response: Directly triggers an immune response against cancer cells, often leading to tumor regression.
Increased Survival Rates: Proven to extend life expectancy, even in advanced cancers.
Prevents Recurrence: Helps reduce the chance of cancer returning.
Improved Quality of Life: Minimal side effects compared to traditional treatments like chemotherapy.
Safe to Combine with Other Treatments: Can be used alongside chemotherapy or radiation for a stronger anti-cancer effect.

Side effect of the therapy

Dendritic Cell Therapy has been extensively studied and is considered a safe and well-tolerated treatment for cancer. Most patients experience:
Mild to moderate fever for 24-48 hours after administration.
Temporary lethargy or weakness for a few days after the infusion.
No serious adverse reactions have been reported in over 200 clinical trials.
There are no major side effects to dendritic cell therapy, and Some patients may experience mild-moderate grade fever after vaccine administration lasting 24-48 hours
Some may experience lethargy/weakness for few days. None of patients has experienced any anaphylactic reaction till date

NOVO Infrastructure

We have state of art clinical and stem cell laboratory facilities compliant with local regulatory requirements in India and Trinidad. Novo stem cell laboratories in India and Trinidad are hi-tech cellular processing clean room facilities equipped with cell sorters, FACS, confocal microscopes, incubators, controlled rate freezers, class 100 biosafety cabinets and cryostorage containers.

Discover the possibilities with NOVO and take the first step towards a better tomorrow.

Dendrite cell therapy

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