CELL INTELLIGENCE · 肿瘤细胞治疗研究

Immunotherapy, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) programmed death-ligand 1/programmed death-1 (PD-L1/PD-1) and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4), has heralded a new era of tumor treatment. Although ICIs have clinical benefits, their complex heterogeneity and diverse resistance mechanisms critically limit their efficacy. Neoantigens, arising from tumor-specific alterations, offer novel targets for individualized immunotherapy, because of their high immunogenicity and tumor specificity. In the past decade, neoantigen-based tumor vaccines have been demonstrated to be a promising immunotherapy strategy to prime the tumor-specific immune response. These therapeutic vaccines include peptide vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, and dendritic cell (DC) vaccines, and are categorized according to the neoantigen source and delivery method. In vivo , neoantigens are processed and presented by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) via the peptide-Major Histocompatibility Complex (pMHC) for T cell recognition, thereby triggering specific immune responses. Because DCs, the most potent APCs, play crucial roles in antitumor immunity, neoantigen-based DC vaccines provide a promising therapeutic strategy. A series of global clinical trials are exploring the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of neoantigen-based DC vaccines in tumors. This review focuses on current progress in clinical research on neoantigen-based DC vaccines in the treatment of solid tumors.