Project description:Dr. Christopher Contag lab's aim is to, investigate the molecular interactions that underlie CIK cell homing from the bloodstream to tumor tissue using a combination of gene expression profiling, flow cytometry, and in vivo molecular imaging. Collectively, these proposed experiments will define the repertoire of molecules employed in CIK cell recognition of the tumor vasculature and guide the development of improved CIK cell therapies for use in cancer patients. A promising new direction in cancer therapy is the use of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells as broadly active tumoricidal agents. CIK cells derive from blood samples stimulated ex vivo, and these activated immune cells are capable of recognizing and destroying a plethora of tumor targets in vivo. In fact, CIK cells have demonstrated efficacy in clinical trials to treat patients with hepatoma, renal cell cancer, and hematological malignancies. Despite the remarkable clinical promise of this therapy, little is known about the mechanisms that govern CIK cell migration to tumor tissue in vivo. Understanding the trafficking patterns of these potent immune cells is of critical importance to advancing their use in humans. I aim to investigate the molecular interactions that underlie CIK cell homing from the bloodstream to tumor tissue using a combination of gene expression profiling, flow cytometry, and in vivo molecular imaging. Collectively, these proposed experiments will define the repertoire of molecules employed in CIK cell recognition of the tumor vasculature and guide the development of improved CIK cell therapies for use in cancer patients. RNA from three groups (1,2,3) were sent to Microarray Core E. Group one samples: Splenocytes were obtained from BALB/c mice, and the T cells were isolated using a negative isolation kit (magnetic bead separation). For group 2 and 3 samples: The isolated splenocytes were treated with IFN-gamma overnight. The cells were then added to anti-CD3 coated flasks and stimulated with IL-2. Fresh IL-2 was added to the media every 3 days, and the cells were harvested 12 days post-isolation. The RNA was labeled and hybridized to Glyco_v3 arrays.

Project description:Cytokine Induced Killer (CIK) cells are heterogeneous ex vivo expanded T lymphocytes with mixed T-NK phenotype and endowed with a wide MHC-unrestricted antitumor activity against both solid and hematologic malignancies. CIK cells can be easily ex vivo expanded up to clinical relevant rates from circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), according to a standard protocol involving timed stimulation with IFN- γ (day 0), Ab-antiCD3 OKT3 (day 1) and IL-2 (from day 1 to the end). Nowadays literature provides scanty information on cytokines, chemokines and growth factors secreted by CIK cells. A comprehensive molecular profiling of CIK cells is needed to complete the knowledge of their biologic and functional features. In this perspective we performed a gene expression profile analysis of basal PBMC and ex vivo expanded CIK cells generated from 3 patients with histologic confirmed Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST). The principal component analysis (PCA) shows that the CIK cell samples clustered together and were clearly separated from PBMC ones. First, we checked the mRNA expression levels of secreted proteins and we found a significant upregulation of GM-CSF, IL-5, IL-13, and IFN-γ in CIK cells. Moreover, IL-1Ra, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-15, IL-8, Eotaxin and MCP-1 are downregulated in CIK cells if compared to PBMC. Noteworthy, among differentially expressed genes (DEGs) we identified other secreted molecules that are upregulated in patient-derived CIK cells, which can contribute to their tumor killing activity: GZMA, GZMB, GZMK, PRF1, IL-32, and LTA. Furthermore, to better characterize the CIK cell phenotype, we studied the surface antigen expression. As expected, we found the downregulation of several myeloid differentiation markers (CD14, CD9, CD93, CSF2RA, CSF2RB, EPB41L3, Receptors for Fc fragments of immunoglobulins, ITGAX, MCEMP1, and TREM1) and B-cell antigens (CD19, CD24, CD79A, CXCR5, and MS4A1). Moreover, microarray data confirmed the upregulation in CIK cells of well-known surface antigens, like CD3D, CD3G, IL2Ra, IL2RG, CD226/DNAM1, ITGAL/LFA-1, KLRK1/NKG2D, NCR3/NKp30, and TRAIL/TNFSF10. Next, in order to identify differentially expressed pathways during CIK cells maturation, we performed a functional analysis by using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software. Among inactivated functions in CIK cells, we found chemotaxis of myeloid cells, phagocytosis, migration of granulocytes and engulfment of leukocytes. Noteworthy, functional gene categories as proliferation of cells, cell death of lymphocytes, cell death of mononuclear leukocytes, apoptosis of B lymphocytes, and quantity of CD4+ T-lymphocytes resulted activated, in agreement with the selection and expansion of CIK cell precursors induced by in vitro treatment of PBMC. Finally, IPA analysis predicted as activated categories cytotoxicity of lymphocytes, cytotoxicity of cells, and cytotoxicity of natural killer cells. In particular, genes involved in cytotoxic mechanism of CIK cells like NCR3/NKp30, KLRK1/NKG2D, TRAIL/TNFSF10, CD226/DNAM1, CD244, CD69, CD96, GZMA, GZMB, PRF1 are differentially expressed. With this work we highlighted previously unknown secretory properties and provided for the first time a comprehensive molecular characterization of CIK cells, opening the possibility to operate on secretory level to improve CIK cell cytotoxic activity against tumors.

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