10 December 2025
Encouraging results for dendritic cell combination therapy
On 28 November, Nature Communications published findings from a study of dendritic cell therapy in metastatic pancreatic cancer. The encouraging results represent an important early step towards a possible new treatment approach.
Dendritic cell therapy
In this form of immunotherapy, a patient’s immune cells are collected and activated outside the body before being returned to stimulate an immune response against cancer cells. An earlier study also produced promising findings in pancreatic cancer.
Step forward
In REACTIVe-2, Erasmus MC researchers administered activated dendritic cells together with another immune-stimulating medicine. The study examined how metastatic pancreatic cancer responds to this combination and whether it could support more effective treatment in future. The paper in Nature Communications reports the findings.
Clinician-researcher Songül Küçükçelebi discusses the study and its next steps in an article from Amazing Erasmus MC. She emphasises that the positive results do not yet establish a new treatment: they provide a possible first step towards a larger patient study.
Support Casper helped fund the research. Director Sjoerd Zwanenburg says: "It is encouraging to see a study offer renewed hope to people with pancreatic cancer. Much more work is needed, but this is another important step forward."