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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2014 May 9;20(8):1252–1257. doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2014.05.004

Figure 1. cGMP grade ex vivo expanded NK (Ex-NK) cells and fresh activated NK (FA-NK) cells differ in phenotype and their ability to expand in mice in vivo.

Figure 1

(A) The Ex-NK cell product contained an average of 88% NK cells while the FA-NK cell product contained 40% NK cells after CD3 and CD19 depletion with the remaining cells being CD14+ monocytes (not shown). Inset shows percent of Cr51 labeled K562 cells lysed when incubated for 4h with Ex-NK or FA-NK cells at the indicated ratios. (B) NSG mice were treated with 250 cGy and then Ex-NK or FA-NK cells (1–2 million absolute NK cells were held constant within each experiment) were infused intravenously. Cytokines were administered after cell infusion as indicated. Blood was sampled weekly and tissues collected as indicated. (C) The number of human CD45+ NK cells in 100 μL of blood collected at the various times after transfer of Ex-NK or FA-NK cells obtained either directly from in vitro cultures (fresh) or thawed after cryopreservation in 10% DMSO (frozen). All mice were given IL-2 (6 doses, 5 mcg per dose). Data are means ± SEM (n=4) (D) The number of human CD45+ NK cells in 100 μL of blood collected at the indicated times after transfer of Ex-NK or FA-NK from fresh cultures. Mice were given cytokines as indicated; IL-2 was given in 6 doses of 10 mcg/dose; IL-15 was given in 6 doses of 5 mcg/dose. Data are means ± SEM (n=6–16, depending on time point and group, as selected mice were sacrificed 8 or 15 days after cell infusion).