Immunotherapy with autologous antigen presenting cells for the treatment of androgen independent prostate cancer

Abstract
Prostate cancer is an excellent target for an active vaccine-based approach based on the fact that prostate cancer cells express unique proteins which serve as highly specific targets. APC8015 (Provenge) is one such investigational therapeutic vaccine that uses autologous antigen presenting cells (APCs) loaded with a recombinant fusion protein of prostatic acid phosphatase linked to a molecule that specifically targets a receptor expressed on the surface of human APCs. Clinical trial outcomes have demonstrated activity in patients with androgen independent prostate cancer.