Ex vivo, fast and efficient process to obtain activated antigen-presenting cells that are useful for therapies against cancer and immune system-related diseases

An in-vitro method to obtain activated antigen-presenting cells (APCs) that are dendritic cells (DCs), and that are useful in the preparation of vaccines for the treatment of cancer, the method comprising:

• a) obtaining monocytes from peripheral blood cells (PBMC);
• b) pre-activating monocytes obtained from step a) together with granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) for at least 10 hours;
• c) incubating activated monocytes obtained from step b) for an additional 24 hours with a lysate obtained from three melanoma cell lines wherein the three melanoma cell lines are Mel 1 (IDAC accession number 260916-01), Mel 2 (IDAC accession number 260916-02), and Mel 3 (IDAC accession number 260916-03) and the three melanoma cell lines have been thermally pre-treated, occurring in a single step, differentiation, maturation and loading of DCs;
• and
• d) harvesting and washing the APCs obtained in step c), wherein, in step c), thermally pre-treating comprises incubation of the melanoma cell lines at a temperature between 39-44° C. for 15 minutes to 4 hours in a serum-free culture medium, and said thermally pre-treating is followed by incubation of said melanoma cell lines at 37° C. for 1 to 6 hours.