Nivolumab With DC Vaccines for Recurrent Brain Tumors

Nivolumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody that targets the programmed death-1 (PD-1) cluster of differentiation 279 cell surface membrane receptor. PD-1 is a negative regulatory molecule expressed by activated T and B lymphocytes. Binding of PD-1 to its ligands, programmed death-ligands 1 and 2, results in the down-regulation of lymphocyte activation. Inhibition of the interaction between PD-1 and its ligands promotes immune responses and antigen-specific T cell responses to both foreign antigens as well as self-antigens. Nivolumab is expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells and is produced using standard mammalian cell cultivation and chromatographic purification technologies. The clinical study product is a sterile solution for parenteral administration.

DCs are potent immunostimulatory cells that continuously sample the antigenic environment of the host and specifically activate cluster of differentiation 4 positive (CD4+) and cluster of differentiation 8 positive (CD8+) T-cells and B-cells. They are at the crossroads of many of the elegant networks of the immune system, and DCs represent the most promising contemporary biologic entity for realizing the promise of immunotherapy. Potent immune responses and encouraging clinical results have been seen in Phase I and II human clinical trials in systemic cancers. Numerous animal studies and the investigator's institution's humans studies have demonstrated potent antitumor responses using DC-based immunotherapy against MGs.