Establishment and functional evaluation of DC-CIK co-culture system with combined loading of HBsAg and HBcAg

Objective To investigate the function of cytokine-induced killer cell (CIK) after co-culture of dendritic cells (DC) and CIK loaded with different HBV antigens.Methods A total of 13 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who visited Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Area Command from January 2015 to June 2016 were enrolled.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 13 CHB patients, and DC and CIK were cultured and divided into CIK culture group, DC+CIK co-culture group, DC+CIK +HBsAg co-culture group, DC+CIK+HBcAg co-culture group, and DC+CIK+HBsAg+HBcAg co-culture group.Then ELISPOT assay was performed to measure the ability of CIK to produce pegylated interferonγ (IFNγ) , and HepG2.2.15 cells were used as target cells to measure the killing function of CIK.A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous date between groups, and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between any two groups.Results There was a significant difference in IFNγ level between different CIK test groups (F=29.84, P<0.001) , and the DC+CIK+HBsAg+HBcAg group had the highest IFNγlevel.There was a significant difference in CIK killing rate between groups (F=14.77, P<0.001) , and the DC+CIK+HBsAg+HBcAg group had the highest CIK killing rate.Conclusion DC-CIK co-culture with combined loading of HBsAg and HBcAg may be an effective cell system for the treatment of CHB.