To determine the magnitude of VLP cell uptake, intracellular fluorescence was measured by quenching extracellular fluorescence after exposure of cells to trypan blue prior to flow cytometric analysis [27] . Although the resulting fluorescence intensities of DCs incubated with FITC-VLPs were now lower following this treatment, the levels were still notably higher than untreated cells confirming the presence of intracellular FITC-VLPs ( Figure 1D ). Equivalent fluorescence cell intensities were also observed in DCs that were incubated with FITC-VLPs pre-mixed with E 8 Pam 2 Cys. However, a higher percentage of fluorescenated cells were detected in those cultures compared to those exposed to FITC-VLPs alone ( Figure 1E ) indicating that an increase in uptake of these constructs is facilitated using the lipopeptide.