Finally, we investigated the state of activation of PBDCs, and observed that the expression of the activation markers HLA-DR, CD40, CD80 and CD86, and inhibitory molecules PD-L1, ILT2 and TIM-3 on DC subsets did not differ between glioma patients and healthy donors, nor among patients stratified according to dex-treatment or histological diagnosis (data not shown). This evidence concerns the gene CD40 and glioma.