Dendritic cells loaded with U251 tumor cell antigen enhance the cytotoxic effect of cytokine-induced killer cells against U251 cell line / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the cytotoxic effect of cytokine-induced killer cells (CIKs) cocultured with U251 tumor cell antigen-loaded mature dendritic cells (DCs) against U251 cell line. Methods The DCs and CIKs were derived from the cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) of the same donor. The DCs were challenged with U251 tumor cell antigen, and cocultured with the CIKs to induce the cell complex Ag-DC-CIK. The mature DCs were identified by morphological and phenotypic analyses. MTT assay was performed to detect the cytotoxic effects ofCBMCs, CIKs, antigen-loaded CIKs (Ag-CIK) or the cell complex Ag-DC-CIK in U25 ! cells. Results The mature DCs derived from the CBMCs highly expressed the costimulatory molecules CD86 (82.66%) and CD40 (69.40%), and moderately expressed CD83 (57.49%) and CD80 (51.14%). The cytotoxic activity of the cell complex Ag-DC-CIK against U251 cells (58.8%) was significantly higher than those of CBMCs (29.71%), CIKs (39.89%), and Ag-CIK (49.92%). Statistical analysis indicated significant difference in the cytotoxic activity between any two of the groups (P<0.05). Conclusion The DCs loaded with the tumor cell antigen can enhance the cytotoxic effect of the CIKs against the target tumor cells, which sheds light on a new approach of immunotherapy for intracranial tumors.