SITC 2021 | The role of dendritic cells in eliciting an anti—tumor immune response

Maria Zagorulya, BS, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, elucidates the importance of understanding the role dendritic cells (DCs) play in eliciting an anti-tumor immune response and how they become dysfunctional in a tumor. DCs play a significant role in multiple steps of the anti-tumor immune response, including initiation of the response during priming but also later in the tumor microenvironment (TME), potentially to maintain stimulation of T-cell function. As such, Dr. Zagorulya explains that DCs may be required for T-cells to become effector cells and pursue execution of their cytotoxic function and elicit an anti-tumor response. This interview took place during the 36th Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.