Table 2.
Effect of irradiated, autologous melanoma cells upon the allostimulatory capacity of DC
| Stimulating DC | ± tumour | Responding mononuclear cells | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | b | c | ||
| A | + | 6±3a | 3±1 | 9±2 |
| − | 3±1 | 3±1 | 7±2 | |
| B | + | 7±4 | 5±2 | 6±3 |
| − | 13±7 | 15±5 | 11±5 | |
| C | + | 10±3 | 6±2 | >50b |
| − | 24±6 | 11±3 | >50b | |
| D | + | 18±4 | 21±4 | 21±4 |
| − | 7±2 | 8±1 | 10±2 | |
| E | + | 17±4 | 17±5 | 26±6 |
| − | 15±3 | 17±5 | 29±6 | |
a103×k, where k is the ratio of DC to mononuclear cells needed to achieve half-maximal allostimulation ± standard error (Eq. 1). Immature DC from melanoma patients A, B, C, D and E were cultured with or without irradiated autologous tumour cells, matured with autologous MCM, and used at a range of doses as allostimulators of mononuclear cells from healthy donors a, b and c. Thus, a ratio of 3 (±1) DC:1,000 mononuclear cells was needed for DC from patient A to stimulate a half-maximal response from donor b, irrespective of whether they were co-cultured with autologous irradiated tumour cells.
bMinimal allostimulation was seen with the combination C×c (k>50)