title: Ex vivo differentiation of natural killer cells from human umbilical cord blood CD34+ progenitor cells.
abstract: Natural Killer (NK)-cells are peripheral blood lymphocytes that represent an important arm of the innate immune system. NK-cells play a critical role in the immune surveillance against tumors and virally infected cells in a major histocompatibiliy complex (MHC)-unrestricted fashion. We have explored such capacities of NK-cells after differentiation from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells derived from human umbilical cord blood. Several culture conditions have been established supporting proliferation and subsequent differentiation of these cells in terms of receptor expression and specific lysis depending on the growth conditions in the presence and absence of supportive stromal feeders. We show that acquisition of Killer Immunoglobulin Receptor (KIR) as well as NK Cytotoxicity Receptor expressions is independent of culture condition whereas absence of stromal feeders did not support acquisition of CD94/NKG2A expression. Such KIR-positive/NKG2A-negative cells generated under different culture conditions showed strong and specific cytolytic activity which could have impact on further immunotherapeutic strategies.
authors: Department of Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Portugal. mjpinho@med.up.pt
authors: Maria João
authors: MJ
authors: Pinho
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Punzel
authors: Mário
authors: M
authors: Sousa
authors: Alberto
authors: A
authors: Barros
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000378:metabolism; D019002:CD56 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000378:metabolism; D061252:Feeder Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D055607:Receptors, Natural Killer Cell / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34; D019002:CD56 Antigen; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; C522918:NCAM1 protein, human; D055607:Receptors, Natural Killer Cell