Lenalidomide enhances anti-tumor effects of CIK cells against lymphoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate lenalidomide modulates anti-tumor effects of cytokine induced killer(CIK) cells against lymphoma cells in vitro.Methods CIK cells were generated in vitro by stimulation of health donors' peripheral blood mononuclear cells subsets with interferon-gamma(INF-γ),IL-2 and anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody. On the different culture time CIK cells were treated with different concentrations of lenalidomide.CD3+CD56+ cell ratio was detected by flow cytometry and ELISA method was used for the detection of GM-CSF, INF-γ and TNF-α level of secretion. Inhibitory effects of CIK cells and CIK cells treated by lenalidomide on the three types of lymphoma cell lines were detected by cell counting kit-8(CCK-8).Results Amount of CD3+CD56+ cells were increased without inhibition by lenalidomide at 0.2-5.0 μmol/L (P＞0.05).Lenalidomide led to significantly higher levels of GM-CSF,INF-γ and TNF-α secreted by CIK cells (P＜0.05).On different culture time CIK cells treated by 1.0 μmol/L lenalidomide had higher killing effects on Z-138 [(42.53±2.19) ％ vs(15.5±3.82) ％],Jurkat[(44.78±4.86) ％ vs(29.94±6.33) ％],RPMI 8226 cells [(54.71±5.31) ％ vs(37.43±9.75) ％]than that without lenalidomide treating(P＜0.05).Conclusion Lenalidomide can enhance killing effect of CIK cells on lymphoma cell lines in vitro. Key words: Lymphoma; Cytokine-induced killer cells; Lenalidomide