{"id":46,"date":"2026-05-13T01:21:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T01:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.penniesinaction.org\/?page_id=46"},"modified":"2026-06-04T18:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T18:08:24","slug":"the-treatment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/?page_id=46","title":{"rendered":"The Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\tUnderstanding Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDendritic cells are part of the immune system. Their role is to help the body recognize threats and alert other immune cells to respond. For more than 30 years, Dr. Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, and his team have studied how dendritic cells may be used to treat cancer.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\tHow it's Made\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDr. Czerniecki's approach is to develop treatment from the patient's own immune system. First, white blood cells are collected from the patient through a process called Apheresis.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe cells extracted are then trained in a lab to recognize specific cancer-related targets.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe \"trained cells\", become what has been called the DC1 vaccine, and is injected back into the patient's body to stimulate an immune response against the patient's cancer.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis treatment is still investigational, meaning it is continuing to be studied through research and clinical trials. Pennies in Action has supported this work since the beginning as part of its mission to help advance promising cancer research forward. See below how this research has progressed through the years. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\n\t\t\tToday\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tToday, ongoing clinical trials continue exploring dendritic cell immunotherapy across multiple breast cancer settings. Pennies in Action\u2019s mission is to help expand research, increase patient access to clinical trials, and continue moving promising science forward.Pennies in Action also hopes to support eligible Right to Try patients who may have limited treatment options while working toward a larger goal: helping advance research that could expand access to stage IV clinical trials in the future.

Continued funding and community support are critical to helping move this research forward and bring investigational therapies closer to broader patient accessibility. Donate or contact us to learn how you can get involved in supporting the mission.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\t2024\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFirst Stage IV \u201cRight to Try\u201d Patient Treated<\/strong>
Researchers expanded access to investigational DC1 immunotherapy through the federal Right to Try pathway, allowing a patient with advanced stage IV breast cancer to receive treatment outside of a traditional clinical trial setting. This milestone marked another step forward in expanding access to investigational immunotherapy research for patients with advanced disease.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResearchers launched an early-phase clinical trial studying personalized DC1 vaccines in patients with high-risk triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) following chemotherapy and surgery (NCT06435351<\/a>)\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t2023
Exploring other areas of Disease\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResearchers expanded a dendritic cell vaccine study for patients with breast cancer that had spread to the brain and leptomeningeal space.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t2022
De-Escalating Chemotherapy\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tResearchers launched the NATASHA trial to study whether HER2-directed DC1 vaccines combined with targeted HER2 therapies could help reduce the amount of chemotherapy needed for patients with stage I\u2013III HER2-positive breast cancer.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t2018
Studies Expanding to Stage II and III HER2+ Cancer\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhase 1 Clinical Trial initiated to see if DC1 Vaccines were safe when administered with standard chemotherapy, and if they help treatment response for Stage 2 and 3 patients, prior to surgery.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\t2012\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEarly clinical results are published in Journal of Immunotherapy, <\/em>confirming findings of strong immune responses in early stage disease, supporting the continuation of this research.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\t2007
The first patients are treated\n\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhase 1 Clinical Trial treating Stage 0 HER2+Breast Cancer began enrolling.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\n\t\t\tEarly 2000s
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDr. Czerniecki and researchers studyed how dendritic cells could be trained to recognize HER2+ breast cancer cells in pre-clinical research.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t \t \n Donate\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Understanding Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy Dendritic cells are part of the immune system. Their role is to help the body recognize threats and alert other immune cells to respond. For more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-46","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":484,"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/46\/revisions\/484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/penniesinaction.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}