Abstract: Abstract: Objective To investigate biological activity and antitumor effects of phosphatidylinositol-3 (GPC3) gene transfected dendritic cells (DC, DC-GPC3) co-cultured with cytokine induced killer cells (CIK) on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods The phenotypes of effector cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Levels of interleukin (IL) - 2 and interferon (IFN)–γ were determined by MTT colorimetry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The cytotoxic activity against hepatocarcinoma cells (HepG2) was measured by lactate dehydrogenase release. Results The proportions of CD3+ CD8+ and CD3+ CD56+ double-positive cells were significantly elevated in the DCIK-GPC3 compared with the DCIK and CIK (P＜0.05). Compared with the DCIK and CIK, the DCIK-GPC3 showed significantly higher levels of secreted IL-2 and IFN-γ in the supernatants (P＜0.05). The antitumor effect of DCIK-GPC3 against HepG2 was the highest than that of DCIK and CIK at an effector-target ratio ranging from 20∶1 to 50 ∶1 (P＜0.05). Conclusion DCIK-GPC3 can enhance the cytotoxic activity against hepatocarcinoma cells in vitro. This study provides a theoretical and experimental basis for clinical immunotherapy using DCIK-GPC3.

Key words: Key words: glypican, dendritic cells, cytokines, liver neoplasms, interleukin-2