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 than 30 years, Dr. Brian Czerniecki, MD, PhD, and his team have studied how dendritic cells may be used to treat cancer.
Dr. 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. Think of these cells as raw recruits: young soldiers with potential but no specific mission yet.
Dr. Czerniecki's team takes those recruits into a specialized lab where they are trained by natural biological signals to recognize specific cancer related targets.
When the soldiers graduate from training, they are called conventional DC1 (cDC1) dendritic cells. The DC1 solders are then injected back into the patient's body to stimulate an immune response against the patient's cancer.
After the trained cDC1 cells are reintroduced into the patient's bloodstream, they immediately get to work. Here is what happens:
1. They scan the body and identify cancer cells wherever they are hiding.
2. They call in backup by activating and educating other immune cells about the specific cancer threat.
3. They coordinate a full immune response, a body-wide organized attack that goes after cancer cells and only cancer cells.
This treatment is still investigational, meaning it is continuing to be studied through research and clinical trials. Pennies in Action is a patient driven mission and is here to support anyone trying to learn more and understand this treatment.
Unlike many cancer treatments, this investigational therapy is personalized using the patient's own immune cells. Because the therapy is created from the patient's own cells, it is not designed to rely on synthetic materials such as mRNA or traditional vaccine adjuvants. Ongoing clinical research continues to evaluate how this personalized approach performs across different patient populations.
No mRNA is used to train the immune cells in Dr. Czerniecki's published dendritic cell approach.Instead, researchers use the patient's own immune cells and expose them to naturally occurring biological signals that help develop specialized conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1s). The goal is to prepare these cells to recognize cancer-specific targets before they are returned to the body.Unlike traditional vaccines, this approach is not designed around synthetic genetic material or vaccine adjuvants. As with any investigational therapy, researchers continue studying how these cells function after infusion and which patients may benefit most.
Based on the mechanism described in published research, this therapy is not designed to modify a patient's DNA or mRNA.The treatment works by educating existing immune cells rather than altering a person's genetic material. The cells used in therapy naturally perform immune functions within the body; the investigational process aims to enhance their ability to recognize cancer-specific targets.Researchers continue evaluating both the effectiveness and long-term safety of this approach through ongoing clinical studies.
The therapy centers around specialized immune cells called conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1s), often described as the "teachers" or "coaches" of the immune system.In the laboratory, these cells are prepared to recognize proteins associated with a patient's cancer. Once returned to the body, their role is to present those targets to other immune cells, helping coordinate an immune response against cancer cells carrying those markers.Published studies have demonstrated that these dendritic cells can activate cancer-fighting T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, although researchers continue to study how effectively this translates into long-term clinical outcomes.
The treatment schedule for this investigational therapy differs from many ongoing cancer treatments.Rather than continuous daily medication, the dendritic cell therapy itself is administered over a defined treatment period. Researchers are studying whether the immune response generated during treatment may continue after therapy is complete.Some published studies have observed durable immune responses in certain patients, but additional research is needed to understand how long these effects may last and which patients are most likely to benefit.
Dr. Brian Czerniecki has been researching dendritic cell immunotherapy for more than 25 years. What began as laboratory research has progressed through decades of preclinical studies, multiple clinical trials, and published findings that continue to shape this investigational approach today. While research is ongoing, each milestone has helped advance the understanding of how personalized dendritic cell therapy may support the treatment of breast cancer. Pennies in Action is committed to helping move this work forward by supporting research, expanding patient access to clinical trials, and providing funding for eligible Right to Try patients as scientists continue working toward broader treatment options for those living with Stage IV disease.
First Stage IV “Right to Try” Patient Treated
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.
Researchers 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)
Researchers expanded a dendritic cell vaccine study for patients with breast cancer that had spread to the brain and leptomeningeal space.
Researchers 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–III HER2-positive breast cancer.
Phase 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.
Early clinical results are published in Journal of Immunotherapy, confirming findings of strong immune responses in early stage disease, supporting the continuation of this research.
Phase 1 Clinical Trial treating Stage 0 HER2+Breast Cancer began enrolling.
Dr. Czerniecki and researchers studyed how dendritic cells could be trained to recognize HER2+ breast cancer cells in pre-clinical research.
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