Whole Tumor Cell (WTC)

---

Necrotic whole tumor cells (not live tumor cells) are a simple approach to vaccination and can be administered directly, without the need of dendritic cells. Live tumors cells are poorly immunogenic and are shown to secrete soluble factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor to suppress  DC's differentiation and maturation. 

A widely used and straightforward method of tumor cell preparation already used in clinical trials is necrotic whole tumor cell lysate. Whole tumor cell lysate contains a crude mixture of cellular components including fragments of the destroyed cellular membrane, intracellular organelles such as mitochondria, and cellular RNA and DNA. Necrotic tumor cells have been shown to induce partial maturation in DC without further addition of maturation stimuli.

Tumor cells express a whole array of Tumor Associated Antigens (TAA) that are both characterized and uncharacterized, and this rich source of antigens contains epitopes of both CD8' cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) and CD4 T helper cells. This is important, as the parallel presentation of both MHC Class I and II restricted antigens would help to generate a stronger overall anti-tumor response and long term CD8 T cell memory via CD4 T cell help.

RGCC's uses tumor cell antigens that are produced from the patients' isolated circulating tumor cells. Tumor cells from each patient potentially carry gene mutations encoding for unique TAAs that are important in stimulating effective and long-lasting anti-tumor responses in the patient.

This therapy can be reordered and repeated at 3-month intervals. Best to send always a new blood sample of 15-20 ml.