Patent ID: 8216587

Claim:
A method of stimulating a CD8 + cytotoxic T cell immune response to an antigenic peptide in vivo, said method comprising: contacting an antigen presenting cell selected from a macrophage and a dendritic cell with said antigenic peptide and with a photosensitizing agent ex vivo, wherein said peptide and said agent are each taken up into an intracellular membrane-restricted compartment of said cell; irradiating said cell ex vivo with light of a wavelength effective to activate the photosensitizing agent, such that the membrane of said intracellular compartment is disrupted, releasing said peptide into the cytosol of the cell, without killing the cell; wherein said released antigenic peptide, or a part thereof of sufficient size to stimulate a cytotoxic T cell response, is subsequently presented on the surface of said cell by a class I MHC molecule; administering the cell to a mammal after irradiating said cell to thereby stimulate the in vivo immune response to the antigenic peptide; and wherein the photosensitizing agent is selected from the group consisting of a porphyrin, phthalocyanine and a chlorin.