The present invention relates to a method for determining the potency of DCs, comprising the steps: stimulating dendritic cells by incubation with soluble CD40L and TLR7/8 agonist, measuring the secretion of the marker proteins IL-10 and IL-12 from the stimulated dendritic cells. Thereby it can be determined whether the dendritic cell have a high capability to activate T-cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells. The invention also encompasses a method for stimulating dendritic cells comprising the step of stimulating the dendritic cells with soluble CD40L and TLR7/8 agonist.