Autologous dendritic cell vaccine (Antwerp University Hospital)

This study involves cancer research and the purpose is to assess the safety and activity of a type of vaccine as immune therapy for cancer.
This vaccine will be made from each participant's own immune cells (called dendritic cells) obtained by blood donation. Dendritic cells (DCs) are immune cells whose role is to identify foreign material in the body (such as bacteria, viruses, or tumor cells).
When DCs recognize this material, they use it to activate other cells of the immune system to mount an attack against that foreign material. In the Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology, each participant's DCs will be loaded with samples of their own tumor cells that were obtained at surgical resection. These tumor cells are killed in the laboratory using a special protocol, and then "fed" to the DCs. The DCs "eat" this material, and these "fed" DCs make up the vaccine.