Abstract

The ability of dendritic cells to efficiently present tumor-derived antigens when primed with tumor cell lysates makes them attractive as an approach for cancer treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dendritic cell transfusion dose on breast cancer tumor growth in a murine model. Dendritic cells were produced from allogeneic bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells that were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 20 ng/mL GMCSF and 20 ng/mL IL-4 for 7 days. These cells were checked for maturation before being primed with a cancer cell-derived antigen. Cancer cell antigens were produced by a rapid freeze-thaw procedure using a 4T1 cell line. Immature dendritic cells were loaded with 4T1 cell-derived antigens. Dendritic cells were transfused into mice bearing tumors at three different doses, included 5.10⁴, 10⁵, and 10⁶ cells/mouse with a control consisting of RPMI 1640 media alone. The results showed that dendritic cell therapy inhibited breast cancer tumors in a murine model; however, this effect depended on dendritic cell dose. After 17 days, in the treated groups, tumor size decreased by 43%, 50%, and 87.5% for the doses of 5 × 10⁴, 10⁵, and 10⁶ dendritic cells, respectively, while tumor size in the control group decreased by 44%. This result demonstrated that dendritic cell therapy is a promising therapy for breast cancer treatment.