Event Abstract Back to Event Umbilical cord blood T cells cultured with IL-7 in addition to IL-2 exhibit a higher degree of polyfunctionality and superior proliferation potential Sofia Berglund1, 2*, Jens Gertow1, Isabelle Magalhaes1, Michael Uhlin1, 2 and Jonas Mattsson1, 2 1 Karolinska Institute, Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Sweden 2 Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Centre for Allogeneic Stem cell Transplantation (CAST), Sweden BACKGROUND: Umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) is an increasingly used stem cell source for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. One disadvantage to UCBT is that treatment with donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) is not possible. We wanted to explore if cultured T cells from the UCB graft could offer an alternative to DLI in this setting. METHODS: T cells were positively selected with CD3+/CD28+ magnetic beads and cultured with IL-2 at escalating concentrations. In addition, IL-7 (20 ng/ml) was added to half of the cultures. After 7 days of expansion the T cells were analyzed by flow cytometry to determine phenotype, and cytokine production. RESULTS: There was significantly greater proliferation in cultures to which IL-7 had been added. Phenotypical differeces such as a higher CD4+/CD8+, a lower percentage of central memory T cells (CD45RO+ CCR7+) and a higher percentage of effector memory T cells (CD45RO+ CCR7-) was seen with IL-7. We assessed the intracellular production of IL-2, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and CD107a, and found that a higher percentage of polyfunctional T cells (positive for three or four factors) was seen in cells cultured with IL-7 in CD3+ and CD3+CD8+ cells, with a trend towards the same association also in CD3+CD4+ cells. CONCLUSION: There seem to be a proliferation advantage in adding IL-7 to a lower dose of IL-2. Addition of IL-7 also seem to have an impact on the differentiation status of the cells. T cells cultured in IL-7 had more polyfunctional traits, possibly increasing the activity of a putative future DLI. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the maternity ward, in particular Boel Niklasson, at Karolinska University hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden, for their kind assistance in obtaining the umbilical cord blood units. This study was supported by grants from Swedish Research Council (K2012-64X-22020-01-3) and The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation (PROJ10/052) and Swedish society for medical research. Keywords: umbilical cord blood, IL-7, T cell expansion, DLI, Cell Culture Techniques Conference: 15th International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Milan, Italy, 22 Aug - 27 Aug, 2013. Presentation Type: Abstract Topic: Translational immunology and immune intervention Citation: Berglund S, Gertow J, Magalhaes I, Uhlin M and Mattsson J (2013). Umbilical cord blood T cells cultured with IL-7 in addition to IL-2 exhibit a higher degree of polyfunctionality and superior proliferation potential. Front. Immunol. Conference Abstract: 15th International Congress of Immunology (ICI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fimmu.2013.02.00697 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 12 Jun 2013; Published Online: 22 Aug 2013. * Correspondence: Dr. Sofia Berglund, Karolinska Institute, Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Stockholm, 14186, Sweden, sofia.berglund@ki.se Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Sofia Berglund Jens Gertow Isabelle Magalhaes Michael Uhlin Jonas Mattsson Google Sofia Berglund Jens Gertow Isabelle Magalhaes Michael Uhlin Jonas Mattsson Google Scholar Sofia Berglund Jens Gertow Isabelle Magalhaes Michael Uhlin Jonas Mattsson PubMed Sofia Berglund Jens Gertow Isabelle Magalhaes Michael Uhlin Jonas Mattsson Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.