Improving vaccines by targeting antigens to dendritic cells

A new approach to enhancing the effectiveness of vac-cines is to deliver antigens selectively to dendritic cells (DC) in situ, via monoclonal antibodies specific for par-ticular DC surface molecules. This can markedly en-hance CTL responses and, via helper T cells, also en-hance antibody responses. DC activation agents or ad-juvants must also be administered for effective CTL re-sponses, but in some cases good antibody responses can be obtained without adjuvants. Here we review the role of different DC subsets and different DC target mol-ecules in obtaining enhanced immune responses