Purified hybrid cells from dendritic cell and tumor cell fusions are superior activators of antitumor immunity

The use of fusions between dendritic cells (DCs) and tumor cells as vaccines has been proved very effective in stimulating antitumor immune responses, both in animal studies and in early human clinical trials. Because of the difficulty of purifying the hybrid cells from the fusion, fusion mixtures were used in these studies. Recently, we developed a technique using fluorescent-dye staining and fluorescence-activated cell sorting that enabled the hybrid cells to be instantly purified from the fusion mixture. In the present study, the hybrid cells were purified from a fusion between mouse DCs and B16F0 melanoma tumor cells using the new technique. The purified cells, named instant dendritomas (IDs) were then compared with fusion mixtures in stimulating antitumor immune responses. The results from cytotoxicity assays, interferon-gamma production and in vivo lung tumor metastasis demonstrated that IDs are more effective than fusion mixture in stimulating antitumor immunity. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in the antitumor immunities activated by IDs from allogenic fusion or IDs from syngenic fusion.