Enhanced In Vivo Immune Responses to Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide by Exogenous CD40 Stimulation

The lack of specific T-cell help in immune responses to thymus-independent antigens results in weak, predominantly immunoglobulin M-mediated immunity with little or no memory. In the work presented here we show how the exogenous stimulation of CD40 by monoclonal antibodies can mimic T-cell help, resulting in enhanced immune responses which are protective against bacterial infection.