Objective: Despite standard treatments (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy), resistance or recurrence may still develop in malignant diseases. Therefore, immunotherapeutic approaches, particularly dendritic cell–based tumor vaccines, are gaining importance as emerging treatment strategies. This study investigated the feasibility of using blood storage bags as culture systems for dendritic cell production in tumor vaccine preparation as an alternative to expensive Good Manufacturing Practice laboratory conditions. Furthermore, dendritic cell stimulation was evaluated using allogeneic tumor lysate.
Materials and Methods: CD34+ stem cells and mononuclear cells collected from donors via apheresis were combined with allogeneic tumor lysate in blood storage bags. Mature dendritic cell differentiation was induced by adding cytokines and prototypical immunoregulatory cytokines that stimulate bone marrow cell proliferation and support mature leukocyte formation.
Results: Flow cytometric analyses revealed that the targeted levels of mature dendritic cells were not achieved in cultures using blood storage bags. However, subsequent experiments demonstrated that mature dendritic cells could be generated from allogeneic tumor lysate under appropriate culture conditions.
Conclusion: These results suggest that economical and practical culture systems may be developed; however, standardization of culture conditions remains critical.