Dendritic cell vaccination has been applied to the treatment of a variety of cancers, including malignant astrocytoma. We have treated 13 patients with malignant astrocytoma using dendritic cell vaccination and have shown that this treatment is safe and is likely to be effective in combination with standard adjuvant therapy. Future studies should prospectively incorporate dendritic cell vaccination together with chemotherapy. Ideally, dendritic cell vaccination should be tested in a prospective fashion, in a coordinated trial involving multiple centres.