ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Dendritic cell vaccines are one of the important active immunotherapies for neoplasms. The aim of this study was to observe the killing effect of specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) on liver carcinoma HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells in vitro. The CTL was induced by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells-originated dendritic cells (DC) transfected by recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) with hAFP gene fragment (137-145).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Immature DCs were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy volunteers and then transfected by rAAV with AFP gene fragment. The CTL was thereafter induced. The activities of DC and CTL were measured and the killing effect of the CTL on HepG2 cells was detected using M1Tr assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mature DC, transfected or not, highly expressed CD40, CD86 and IL-12. IFN-gamma was highly expressed in the CTL. The DC-induced CTL could effectively recognize and destroy the HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>DC transfected by rAAV can stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of lymphocytes and also induce the proliferation of CTL, and their own phenotypes are not significantly altered. The DC vaccine can be effectively used as an adjuvant immunotherapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.</p>