BONE-MARROW-DERIVED DENDRITIC CELLS PULSED WITH SYNTHETIC TUMOR PEPTIDES ELICIT PROTECTIVE AND THERAPEUTIC ANTITUMOR IMMUNITY

Dendritic cells, the most potent 'professional' antigen-presenting cel ls, hold promise for improving the immunotherapy of cancer. In three d ifferent well-characterized tumour models, naive mice injected with bo ne marrow-derived dendritic cells prepulsed with tumour-associated pep tides previously characterized as being recognized by class 1 major hi stocompatibility complex-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes, developed a specific T-lymphocyte response and were protected against a subsequ ent lethal tumour challenge. Moreover, in the C3 sarcoma and the 3LL l ung carcinoma murine models, treatment of animals bearing established macroscopic tumours (up to 1 cm(2) in size) with tumour peptide-pulsed dendritic cells resulted in sustained tumour regression and tumour-fr ee status in more than 80% of cases. These results support the clinica l use of tumour peptide-pulsed dendritic cells as components in develo ping effective cancer vaccines and therapies.