Enhancing the T-cells stimulatory capacity of human antigen presenting cells and their use in vaccination

Abstract

With the current invention, we provide new methods of enhancing the T-cell stimulatory capacity of human dendritic cells (DCs) and their use in cancer vaccination. The method comprises the introduction of different molecular adjuvants to human DCs through transfection with at least two mRNA or DNA molecules encoding markers selected from the group of: CD40L, CD70, constitutively active TLR4 (caTLR4), IL-12p70, EL-selectin, CCR7 and/or 4-1 BBL; or in combination with inhibition of SOCS, A20, PD-L1 and/or STAT3 expression, for example through siRNA transfection. We could show a clear increase in the immunostimulatory capacity of DCs obtained in this way, enabling them to elicit an unexpectedly high T-cell immune response in vitro. Introduction of at least two of the above molecules, in combination with a tumor-specific antigen enables the DCs to elicit a significant host-mediated T-cell immune response in vivo against the tumor antigen and thus makes them very attractive in the manufacturing of anti-cancer vaccines.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.