Impact of monocytes on the proliferation of highly activated NK-like cells (GAIA-102)

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Presentation Time: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
Poster Board Number: B629
Abstract ID: 6271

Presenting Author:
Shuyue Yuan
Abstract:

[Background] There has been a growing clinical application of therapies using autologous and allogeneic natural killer (NK) cells. Researchers across the field have been developing various methods to amplify NK cells, highlighting the increasing importance of NK cell amplification techniques. We have already developed a technique to amplify highly active NK-like cells (GAIA-102) from allogeneic peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with several cytokines, and currently conducting three clinical trials utilizing this technology. However, it remains unclear which components of PBMCs contribute to the proliferation of NK cells, a question that is central to further advancing this field.[Method] We utilized magnetic beads to deplete various blood cell components from PBMCs to investigate the effects of the presence or absence of each component on the cultivation of GAIA-102. We then evaluated the dynamics of cell proliferation and surface marker expression changes.[Results] The removal of specific components did not impact the cytotoxicity or the surface marker profile (ITGA1+/CXCR3+/CCR5+/CCR6+) of the original GAIA-102. Interestingly, eliminating monocytes from the culture markedly decreased GAIA-102 cell proliferation, a more substantial effect than when B cells were removed.[Conclusions] Our study suggests that monocytes may play a crucial role of GAIA-102 proliferation. Unraveling the impact of monocytes on this process will be a vital direction for future research.