A cancer vaccine consisting of autologous dendritic cells transfected with autologous tumor mRNA and the human CD40 ligand (CD40L) gene with immunostimulatory and antitumor activities. Vaccination with autologous dendritic cell-autologous tumor mRNA-human CD40L vaccine may elicit a cytotoxic T cell response against tumor cells from which the autologous tumor mRNA was derived. When expressed by dendritic cells, tumor antigens and the co-stimulatory molecule CD40L, which binds to CD40 receptors on antigen presenting cells (APC), facilitate both humoral and cellular immune responses against tumor cells. Check for active clinical trials using this agent. (NCI Thesaurus)