title: Interleukin-6 inhibits regulatory T cells and improves the proliferation and cytotoxic activity of cytokine-induced killer cells.
abstract: The presence of regulatory T cells in patients who received therapeutic cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells may inhibit host immunity, leading to failed immunotherapy. In this study, we investigated the impact of using interleukin-6 (IL-6) on the phenotype alteration, proliferation, and cytotoxic activity of CIK cells generated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. We found that addition of IL-6 to CIK-cell culture medium decreased the percentage of Treg/CD4(+), Treg/CD3(+) T cells in the resultant CIK cells and simultaneously increased the proliferation ability, the expression of CD45RO(+)CD62L(low)CCR7(low) effector memory phenotype, and cytotoxicity of the CIK cells against hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro. Our results also showed that the percentage of Th17/CD4(+) cells was increased in CIK cells, but the proportion of Th17/CD4(+) cells was not affected by the addition of IL-6 to CIK-cell culture medium. Collectively, these data suggest that IL-6 may have the potential to improve antitumor activity of CIK cells in cancer immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Department of Hepatobiliary Oncology, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Guohe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiangming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shuhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jinye
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Alfred E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Shengping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D055612:Cytokine-Induced Killer Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6