Does one need to have one’s own fresh or frozen tumor tissue available to do Dendritic Cell Therapy?
Not always. Some trials require it and it is advisable to have tissue or related antigen available if one is to do Dendritic Cell Therapy for preventative purposes as there may not be sufficient tumor antigen in the circulation for the Dendritic Cells to pick up. However, if patients with advanced or metastatic disease, it is often possible to do “unloaded” Dendritic Cell therapy, where naked Dendritic cells are injected intratumorally or into the bloodstream where it would pick up antigens in vivo. One example of this approach in treating pancreas and gallbladder cancer was presented in ASCO ’04.
