Figure 6.

NK cells rely on endogenous IL15 production for in vivo persistence in NSG mice. (A) Schematic representation of the vector maps of the IL15 constructs used for NK cell transduction. (B) Primary human NK cell preparations consisting of 50% EGFP/IL15 or EGFP/IL15-IL15R and 50% untransduced NK cells (or 100% untransduced cells as control group) were injected into busulfan-preconditioned mice (3 animals per group). On days 5, 10, 20, and 27, NK cell persistence in the bloodstream was analyzed by mouse CD18, human CD45, and CD56 staining as well as EGFP expression. (C) Example of gating strategy showing representative data from day 10. Values indicate mean ± SEM of all three animals. (D) NK cell persistence in the blood including ratios of transduced to untransduced NK cells. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. Significances of p<0.05 are indicated by an asterisk (*).