In vitro anti-tumor immune response induced by dendritic cells transfected with recombinant adenovirus carrying mutant k-ras genes

The specific anti-tumor immune response induced by mouse bone marrow dendritic cells (DCs) transfected with recombinant adenovirus carrying mutant k-ras genes was investigated. DCs were generated from mouse bone marrow in the presence of rmGM-CSF (3.3 ng/mL) and rmIL-4 (1.3 ng/mL) and detected by FACS, and then transfected with the recombinant adenovirus encoding mutant k-ras gene. The efficacy of transfection and T cell stimulating activity of DCs were detected. CTL activity of the mice vaccinated with DCs was observed. The results showed that DCs had dendritic veiled morphology. BmDCs highly expressed B7-1 (80%), B7-2 (77%), MHC II (70%), CD11c (65%), CD40 (70%) and CD54 (96%) with FACS, and no significant difference in the expression was observed before and after the transfection (P>0.05). The DCs transfected by mutant k-ras gene could significantly stimulate lymphocytes proliferation as compared with those transfected by Ad-c or non-modified DCs (P