Strategies to enhance dendritic cell vaccine efficacy in the treatment of malignant glioma

Malignant glioma is the most common malignant intracranial tumor. Recently, there has been progression in the treatment of malignanr glioma by using dendritic cell(DC) vaccination. It has been proved that the DC vaccination has shown positive effects on malignant glioma. Many studies have reported that DC vaccination can prolong the survival of malignant glioma patients. By loading glioma antigens, the vaccines can effectively reverse the immune suppression induced by glioma cells and activate immune systems to eradiate glioma cells without cousing harmness to normal cells.Therefore, DC vaccination has a promising prospect in the treatment of malignant glioma. The capacity of DC vaccines in the activation of immune systems can be enhanced via choosing antigens of high specificity, modulating regulators in the tumor microenvironment, and regulating molecules expressed on DCs. Key words: Dendritic cells; Vaccines; Glioma; Immunotherapy; Dendritic cell vaccines tumor microenvironment