Patent ID: 6849451

Claim:
A method of preparing a composition for cancer immunotherapy, comprising: (a) staining a neoplastic cell population freshly isolated from a patient with a first fluorescent dye, (b) staining a dendritic cell population with a second fluorescent dye, wherein said first dye is different from said second dye, (c) contacting said neoplastic cell population and said dendritic cell population with one another under conditions that promote cell fusion, and obtaining a resultant hybrid cell population stained with both the first and second dyes, (d) purifying the resultant hybrid cell population by fluorescence activated cell sorting, and (e) resuspending the resultant hybrid cell population in a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle; wherein said method does not involve antibiotic or metabolic selection, said purifying is accomplished in less than about 24 to 48 hours after said contacting, and the antigenic diversity of the starting neoplastic cell population is preserved in the resultant hybrid cell population.