Costimulatory ligand CD70 allows induction of CD8 T-cell immunity by immature dendritic cells in a vaccination setting

Abstract

The use of dendritic cells (DCs) as anticancer vaccines holds promise for therapy but requires optimization. We have explored the potential of costimulatory ligand CD70 to boost the capacity of DCs to evoke effective CD8+ T-cell immunity. We show that immature conventional DCs, when endowed with CD70 expression by transgenesis, are converted from a tolerogenic state into an immunogenic state. Adoptively transferred CD70-expressing immature DCs could prime CD8+ T cells, by CD27, to become tumor-eradicating cytolytic effectors and memory cells with a capacity for robust secondary expansion. The CD8+ T-cell response, including memory programming, was independent of CD4+ T-cell help, because the..