Compositions and methods of activating dendritic cells with LMP1 and LMP1-activated dendritic cell based compositions and methods are effective for dendritic cell therapy and provide an adjuvant function for vaccine administration. LMP1 or LMP1-CD40 chimeric protein may be used to activate and mature dendritic cells. LMP1 and LMP1-activated dendritic cells act as an adjuvant to enhance the cellular immune response. Also disclosed herein are kits for activating dendritic cells and for preparing a vaccine formulation. Administration of the dendritic cells transfected with LMP1 can induce an immune response against cancer or infection. The mature dendritic cells may comprise an antigen and at least one cytokine in addition to LMP1. Use of LMP1 or LMP1-CD40 provides a way to activate and mature dendritic cells that retain functional and migratory abilities without the side effects that result from maturing the dendritic cells using PGE2
