ABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the biological characteristics of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells in vitro METHODS: The non-adhere peripheral blood monoclear cells from healthy donors were induced into CIK cells in the presence of IFN-?, IL-1?, IL-2 and anti-CD3 antibody. LAK (lymphokine activated killer) cells were prepared as a control. The cellular phenotype were detected by FCM and immunocytochemistry and the cytotoxicity was measured by LDH release assay. RESULTS: After 2 weeks of induction, the proliferation rate of CIK cells reached a peak and the proportion of CD3 + population was above 95%, and then the cells growth entered to plateau phase at week 3. The proportion of CD3 +CD56 + NKT subset cells was 16 5% on day 15 and it had no obvious variety between 2 and 4 weeks. Correspondingly, LAK cells grew slowly and had lower proliferation rate compared with the CIK cells ( P