Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2006, 208(1)

Invited Review

Genetically Modified Dendritic Cells for Therapeutic Immunity

TOSHIAKI KIKUCHI

Department of Respiratory Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

Dendritic cells are professional antigen presenting cells, which show an extraordinary capacity to initiate primary immune responses by stimulating T cells. This established function of dendritic cells has attracted much attention in efforts to develop useful vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases. Designing effective strategies to generate clinical dendritic cell-based vaccine protocols remains a challenging field of research. The successful realization of immunotherapy utilizing dendritic cells will depend on modifications of these protocols to optimize the natural stimulatory properties of dendritic cells, such as genetic modification of dendritic cells. This review focuses on dendritic cell gene modifications for enhancing the multiple effector functions of dendritic cells, including viral and non-viral gene transfer into dendritic cells, and a variety of transferred genes, such as those encoding antigens, co-stimulatory molecules, cytokines, and chemokines.

keywords —— dendritic cell; cellular vaccine; genetic modification; cancer; infectious diseases

© 2006 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2006, 208, 1-8

Received October 18, 2005; revision accepted for publication October 24, 2005.
Correspondence: Toshiaki Kikuchi, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Respiratory Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.

e-mail: kikuchi@idac.tohoku.ac.jp
Dr. T. Kikuchi is a recipient of the 2004 Gold Prize, Tohoku University School of Medicine.