J Cancer 2011; 2:383-385. doi:10.7150/jca.2.383

Short Report

Bortezomib Treatment to Potentiate the Anti-tumor Immunity of Ex-vivo Expanded Adoptively Infused Autologous Natural Killer Cells

Andreas Lundqvist¹, Maria Berg², Aleah Smith², Richard W. Childs^{2 ✉}

1. Department of Oncology and Pathology, Cancer Center Karolinska, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
2. Section of transplantation Immunotherapy, Hematology branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

Abstract

Our results show that using an EBV-LCL feeder cell line, large numbers of pure populations of highly activated NK cells can be expanded ex vivo under GMP conditions. With the exception of thyroiditis and constitutional symptoms related to IL-2 therapy, infusions of up to 1 x 10⁸ cells/kg of ex vivo expanded NK have been well tolerated and have provided preliminary clinical evidence for mediating anti-tumor immunity in patients with advanced cancer.

Keywords: Bortezomib, Anti-tumor Immunity, Autologous Natural Killer Cells