Autologous cytokine-induced killer cell therapy in clinical trial phase I is safe in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

AIM:To investigate the influence of autologous cytokineinduced killer (CIK) cells on the phenotypes of CIK effector cells, peripheral T lymphocyte subsets and dendritic cell subsets in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)were collected by a blood cell separator from 13 patients with HCC, then expanded by priming them with interferongamma (IFN-γ) followed by monoclonal antibody (mAb) against CD3 and interleukin-2 (IL-2) the next day. The phenotypic patterns of CIK cells were characterized by flow cytometry on d 0, 4, 7, 10, 13 and 15 of incubation, respectively. Then, 5 mL of venous blood was obtained from HCC patients before or 8-10 d after CIK cells were transfused into patients to assess the influence of CIK cells on the percentages of effector cells, and proportions of DC1 or DC2 in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. + cells began to decrease on d 7 and 13, respectively. The proportions of type I dendritic cell (DC1) and type II dendritic cell (DC2) subsets increased from 0.59±0.23% and 0.26±0.12% before CIK cell therapy to 0.85±0. 27% and 0.43±0.19% (all P<0.01) after CIK cell transfusion, respectively. The symptoms and characteristics of HCC patients were relieved without major side effects. RESULTS: CONCLUSION:Our results indicated that autologous CIK cells can efficiently improve the immunological status in HCC patients, and may provide a potent approach for HCC patients as the adoptive immunotherapy.

Effect of cytokine-induced killer cells on immune function in patients with lung cancer

“…Numerous clinical studies have been recently performed, whereby adjuvant infusions of CIK cells following surgical resection demonstrated a significant increase in survival time (43,44). In addition, CIK infusions were also able to reduce the viral load of hepatitis B virus (45).…”

Moderating Effects and Maintenance of Lung Cancer Cellular Immune Functions by CIK Cell Therapy

“…Immune functions of lung cancer patients are low, so the body could not effectively carry out the immune defense reaction, which is an important factor leading to tumor cell immune escaping and postoperative metastasis recurrence (Hongeng et al, 2003;Shi et al, 2004;Sievers et al, 2004;Wang et al, 2006;Méndez et al, 2007;Wongkajornsilp et al, 2009). In this study, there were different types of immune function disorders of peripheral blood cells in lung cancer patients, which were distributed to 147 cases Class A (28.8%), 128 cases Class B (25.0%), 142 cases Class C (27.8%), 68 cases Class D (13.3%) and 26 cases Class E (5.1%) among 511 lung cancer patients according to the cells immune characteristics before treatment.…”

Cytotoxic effect of trans-cinnamaldehyde on human leukemia K562 cells

“…Donor generated CIK cells do not induce GVHD as observed for unfractionated donor splenocytes, and they prolong the survival of murine leukemia-bearing mice. Therefore, the use of CIK cells in immunotherapy to eradicate resistant residual tumor cells with limited toxicity against normal cells is very promising [19] . In the present study, TCA upregulated the expression of Fas, indicating the Fas/FasL pathway may be involved in apoptosis by TCA and in the enhanced cytotoxicity triggered by CIK cells.…”