Cytotoxic potential of interleukin-15 stimulated cytokine induced killer (CIK) against epithelial cancer cell lines

Cytokine Induced Killer (CIK) cells are T derived effector cells co-expressing the CD3 and CD56 molecules, endowed with a non-MHC-restricted anti-tumor activity. CIK are induced by in vitro priming with IFN-γ followed by the activation with anti-CD3 and expansion with IL-2. In this study we investigated the in vitro cytotoxic potential of CIK expanded with IL-2 (IL-2-CIK) or with IL-15 (IL-15-CIK). CIK were generated from mononuclear cells of...