08/25/2026
Researchers have developed a method that uses engineered dendritic cells to train T cells to recognize a patient’s cancer. The team generated dendritic cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), modified them to reduce immune rejection, and coated them with membrane material derived from patient tumors. The tumor membrane provides a broad set of cancer-associated antigens for the dendritic cells to present to T cells.
In preclinical experiments with leukemia and ovarian cancer samples, the approach activated T cells to kill matched tumor cells and slowed tumor growth in humanized mice. “For cell-based therapies to work, they need to avoid immune rejection by the body, and they need to target the cancer and not healthy tissue. Our combination of iPSC-derived dendritic cells with patients’ own tumor signature checks both boxes, and we’re very hopeful it could work in the clinic,” says senior author Robert Blelloch, MD, PhD. Learn more:
Blelloch and colleagues create genetically engineered universal human iPSCs, differentiate them into CCR7+ migratory dendritic cells, and dress them with tumor-derived MHC class I-antigen complexes to develop a personalized cancer vaccine. They validate the approach using cancer cell lines and match...
