Anticancer vaccine and diagnostic methods and reagents

A method for diagnosing a malignant or pre-malignant condition within a patient comprising assaying for immunoreactivity to a cyclin molecule within the patient, whereby the presence of immunoreactivity supports a diagnosis of a malignant or pre-malignant condition.

A method for vaccinating a patient against malignancies comprising introducing a peptide consisting essentially of all or an immunogenic fragment of a cyclin protein into a patient under conditions sufficient for the patient to develop an immune response to the cyclin protein.

A method of priming T cells against tumor antigens comprising, obtaining naïve CD4+ or CD8+ T cells from at least one healthy individual, obtaining at least one protein or peptide from at least one cancerous cell;

• obtaining antigen presenting cells (APCs), culturing the APCs with the at least one protein or peptide, and adding the T cells to the culture of the APCs, whereby the T cells are primed against the at least one protein or peptide.

A method of identifying tumor antigens comprising, obtaining naïve CD4+ or CD8+ T cells from at least one healthy individual, obtaining at least one protein or peptide from at least one cancerous cell;

• obtaining antigen presenting cells (APCs), culturing the APCs with the at least one protein or peptide, and adding the T cells to the culture of the APCs, whereby the T cells are primed against the at least one protein or peptide, and assessing the peptide sequence of the stimulatory molecules.

The method of claim 41, wherein the dendritic cells are generated in vitro.