Dendritic cell biology, dysfunction and immunotherapy in gastrointestinal cancers

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers make up a significant proportion of newly diagnosed malignant disease. The five-year survival for these GI cancers is poor. Anti-cancer host defences are thought to play a role in these cancers, albeit they are suboptimal. Novel immunotherapies are being introduced to treat such patients. This review describes basic cell biology of dendritic cells, as they are thought to play a key role in generating effective anti-tumour responses. Dendritic cell dysfunction in patients with various cancers is documented and immunotherapy using dendritic cells in a range of GI cancers is described and discussed