Isolation of CD11c+ dendritic cells from B16-OVA-USP18 tumor bearing mice showed that these cells were activated instead of tolerized, because the expression of CD86 and MHC class-II was higher (Figure 4F), and more TNF-α but less IL-10 were secreted after re-stimulation in vitro as compared with B16-OVA-GFP tumor bearing mice (Figure 4G). Here, USP18 is linked to neoplasm.