PROCESS FOR THE MATURATION OF DENTRITIC CELLS AND A VACCINE

摘要

The invention provides a method of producing mature dendritic cells in vitro , which comprises the step of culturing the immature dendritic cells in the presence of a specifically configured high molecular weight double stranded RNA (dsRNA) polymer. The specifically configured high molecular weight dsRNA polymer is typically selected from the group comprising poly [I]:poly [CxU]; poly [I]:poly [GxU]; poly [A]: poly [UxC]; poly [A]:poly [UxG]; poly [U]:pol y [AxC]; poly [U]:poly [IxU]; poly [C]:poly [GxA]; poly [C]:poly [GxU]; poly [G]:poly [CxA]; poly [G]:poly [CxU] and Ampligen, where x is on average a number from 3 to 40. The immature dendritic cells may be exposed to an antig en before they are matured, and a vaccine including the antigen-presenting matu re dendritic cells can then be prepared. A method of treating cancer, a virus, parasite and microorganism is also disclosed.