Why are dendritic cells central to cancer immunotherapy?

Dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy is rapidly emerging as a viable alt ernative to radiation or chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer. The resur gence of interest in cancer immunotherapy reflects the promising results th at have been obtained in both animal models and early clinical trials with the DC-based approach. Here I suggest that this optimism is justified becau se the efficient capture and presentation of antigens by DCs is central to the induction of an immune response. I argue that the mechanism by which DC s capture antigen suggests that the immune system might actually be 'blind' to tumours, thereby challenging the theory of immune surveillance.