The fresh buffy coats (Leukocyte Source) from local blood bank (Anhui blood center) were used in this study as the source of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for NK cells expansion. The PBMCs were isolated from the buffy coats by using Ficoll-Paque (Biosharp, Anhui, China). A modified feeder-free human NK cells expansion system, as described previously, was used for NK cell expansion [31 (
link),32 (
link)]. In brief, 6 × 10
7 PBMCs were cultured in
KBM-581 medium (Corning, 88-581-CM) supplemented with 5% of heat-inactivated autologous plasma, 1000 IU/mL rhIL-2 (Jinsili, Jiangsu, China) and
anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (eBioscience, San Diego, CA, USA), in an anti-CD16 monoclonal antibody (Beckman Coulter, Inc., Brea, CA, USA) immobilized culture flask. The cultures were continued to culture for 17–27 days at 5% CO
2, 37 °C, by adding fresh medium every 2–3 days to keep the cell density between 1.8 and 3.2 × 10
6 cells/mL until the desired cell number was reached. Total cell numbers were counted using trypan blue by an
automated cell counter (Countstar, Shanghai, China). To determine the percentage of NK cells, cells were stained for CD3 and CD56, followed by flow cytometry analysis. The final cell qualified indicators included proportion of living cells ≥90% and proportion of CD56
+ cells ≥80%.
Chen M., Li Y., Wu Y., Xie S., Ma J., Yue J., Lv R., Tian Z., Fang F, & Xiao W. (2021). Anti-Tumor Activity of Expanded PBMC-Derived NK Cells by Feeder-Free Protocol in Ovarian Cancer. Cancers, 13(22), 5866.