Vaccination with immature dendritic cells combined with CD40 mAb induces protective immunity against B lymphoma in hu-SCID mice

Dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed by tumor antigens have been widely used as tumor vaccines to specifically trigger the cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells. But the tumor microenviroment with enriched immunosuppressants hampered DC maturation and co-stimulation. CD40/CD40L signaling, one of the most important co-stimulatory molecules is capable of effectively skewing the immune response by promoting DCs maturation and co-stimulation. To establish a novel specific immunotherapeutic approach for the use of DC vaccine in the treatment of B lymphoma, hu-SCID mice bearing B lymphoma were vaccinated by different combination of tumor antigen pulsed DC or imDC vaccines and immune-enhancing agencies such as agonist CD40 mAb and T cells. The results of immature DCs combined with agonistic CD40 mAb were encouraging with achievement of tumor regression and induction of antigen-specific immune responses. These findings demonstrated the potential utility of imDC-based tumor vaccination combining with agonistic CD40 mAb in the treatment of malignant lymphoma.