In fact, the so-obtained DCs (designated as “DC5”) not only expressed higher levels of MHC-I and MHC-II, IL-12 and IL-1α compared to GM15-2 step DCs, but also elicited an in vitro strong Th1 response marked by high IFNγ and low IL-4, TGFβ and IL-10 from T cells isolated from different compartments of tumor bearing animals. The gene discussed is IL1A; the disease is neoplasm.