Table 4 Routes of dendritic cell vaccine administration
From: Research progress on dendritic cell vaccines in cancer immunotherapy
Routes of DC vaccine administration | Advantages | Disadvantages | Main references |
|---|---|---|---|
Intravenous infusion | Best way for hematological malignancies Can route DC vaccines to nonpreferred areas, e.g., lungs, liver, spleen, bone marrow Delivery of a precise number of DCs to the target T cell compartment | DCs need to go through the blood circulation to reach the tumor sites | |
Intradermal injection | Most often used method Administered near superficial lymph nodes May give higher T cell responses than intravenous injection | Allows only 5% of DCs to reach the lymph nodes Efficacy mainly depends on the migratory capacity of DCs to the lymph nodes | |
Intratumoral injection | Mainly applied in solid tumor patients Produces higher local vaccine concentrations Directly activates infiltrating DCs in the tumor site Easily primes the initial immune response | Considered a traumatic method due to the puncture process | |
Intranodal injection | Theoretically, may be the best route since DC migration is not required Superiority over the other routes with regard to sensitization of CD8+ T cells | Extra skills are required to avoid lymph node damage Not commonly used Lack of pulications | |
In vivo induction | Administered with Kits. Activate the DCs in vivo Activate both the innate and adaptive immune system and especially leukemia specific T cells followed by an immunoreaction against residual leukemic blasts | Difficult to check the quality and quantity of the DCs May have individual reaction differences More research is needed for validation | [12] |