When the capacity of MDDC to stimulate autologous CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation was tested, all the MDDC preparations derived from both cryopreserved PBMC of healthy donors as well as cancer patients were able to significantly enhance the antigen-specific (i.e., SEB, CMV-pp65, HER2/neu, and MAGE) response compared to stimulation of PBMC with antigens alone. The gene discussed is ERBB2; the disease is cancer.