Dendritic cells loaded with tumor B cells elicit broad immunity against murine gammaherpesvirus 68 but fail to prevent long-term latency.

It is still unknown whether a noninfectious gammaherpesvirus vaccine is able to prevent or reduce virus persistence. This led us to use dendritic cells loaded with tumor B cells as a vaccine approach for the murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (gammaHV68) model of infection. Dendritic cells loaded with UV-irradiated latently infected tumor B cells induce broad, strong, and long-lasting immunity against gammaHV68. Dendritic cell vaccination prevents the enlargement of lymph nodes and severely limits acute infection and early latency but does not prevent gammaHV68 from establishing long-term latency. Our findings support the concept that attenuated viruses may be the best vaccine option for preventing gammaherpesvirus persistence.