Regulation of cytokine-induced killer cells-related immune function by dendritic cell vaccine in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective To investigate the regulation of the immune function of cytokine-induced killer cells(CIK) by dendritic cell (DC) vaccine in the patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB) in vitro.Methods CIK cells from 30 patients with CHB were cultured in vitro,and were randomly divided into two groups,DC vaccine-treated group and the control group.After 14 days of culture,the percentages of CD3 + CD4+ T,CD3 +CD8 +T and CD3 +CD56+ T cells among CIKs were analyzed by flow cytometry.The levels of IL-12,IFN-γand IL-6 in cell culture supernatant was detected by ELISA.Results The percentages of CD3 + CD4 + T,CD3 +CD8+T and CD3+ CD56+ T cells were 18.27％,64.36％ and 20.00％ in CIKs in DC vaccine group,and 17.79％ ( P ＞ 0.05 ),54.69％ ( P ＜ 0.01 ) and 13.39％ ( P ＜ 0.01 ) in the control group,respectively.The perentage of CD3 + CD4 + T cells were similar between the two groups ( P ＞ 0.05 ),but for the perentage of CD3 + CD8 +T and C D3 + CD56 + T cells were significantly different between the two groups (t =4.130 and 5.601respectively,Ps ＜ 0.01 ).The concentrations of IL- 12,IL-4 and IFN-γin supernatant were ( 177.82 ± 130.06),(31.77 ± 9.52) and (86.99 ± 56.30) ng/L in DC vaccine-treated group respectively,which were significantly different from those of (80.83 ±50.15) ng/L (t =3.811,P ＜0.01 ),(40.33 ± 19.74) ng/L( t =2.141,P ＜0.05) and (42.07 ± 19.68)ng/L(t =4.125,P ＜0.01) in the control group,respectively.Conclusion DC vaccine could enhance the killing function of CIK cells. Key words: Cytokine-induced killer cells; Dendritic cell; Chronic hepatitis B; Interleukin-12