Abstract
Dendritic cells（DCs）pulsed with tumor-associated antigens can effectively induce anti-tumor immunity. Antigen loading of DC with whole tumor cell preparations is an attractive mean when defined tumor-associated antigens are not available. The goal of this study was to establish a DC-based vaccine model for prostate cancer in mice and to evaluate three antigen loading strategies: DCs pulsed with whole tumor lysates, DCs pulsed with irradiated tumor cells, and DCs pulsed with irradiated tumor cells in the presence of IL-3. Mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells（BM-DCs） were generated after 5-6 days culture with GM-CSF and IL-4. Further maturation of BM-DCs could be induced by LPS for 24 hours. In vitro generated BM-DCs displayed typical DC morphology, surface markers expression, phagocytosis capacity and allostimulatory ability of T cell proliferation. DCs pulsed with irradiated TRAMP C1 cells were most effective in preventing or delaying tumor growth on tumor challenge. The presence of IL-3 did not further enhance this protective immunity. DCs pulsed with TRAMP C1 lystates seemed to be less effective compared to irradiated TRAMP C1 cells. These data suggested DCs pulsed with irradiated tumor cells is the most promising strategy in developing DC-based tumor vaccine for prostate cancer.