Antitumor effects of CIK cells against hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro and in vivo / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Purpose:To evaluate the antitumor effects of human cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells from healthy donors and patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in vitro and in vivo .Methods:Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy donors and patients were induced to become CIK cells by in vitro incubation. The CIK cells were identified at different intervals by flow cytometry analysis. The cytotoxicity of CIK cells against autologous primary HCC was determined by 51Cr Release Assays. The antitumor activity of the CIK, LAK and PBMC cells were evaluated in Balb/c nude mice bearing BEL-7402liver cancer.Results:The flow cytometry analysis showed that CIK cells from patients with HCC proliferated and expanded more than 300-fold in vitro incubation by day 28;the percentage of CD3+CD56+ cells increased from 0.23% on day 0 to 17.8% on day 21. CIK cells generated from patients with HCC patients possessed a higher antitumor cytotoxic activity on autologous HCC cells in vitro than autologous PBMC. In addition, CIK cells had a stronger suppressive effect on the tumor growth in Balb/c nude mice bearing BEL-7402 tumor than LAK cells (median inhibitory rates 84.7% vs 52.8%, P