Gene expression anaylsis of tumor stimulated human NK cells

Genome wide expression profiling of human NK cells stimulated with K562 erythroleukemic tumor cells after four hours of NK-tumor co-culture. Responding NK cells were compared to non-responding NK cells, delineated by display of CD107 on the NK cell surface following cytotoxic granule release. We hypothesized that tumor responses would initiate rapid changes in gene expression in the NK cell that would identify new features of the anti-tumor response of NK cells. Results identify NK cell activation responses and induction of TNF superfamily molecules with immunoregulatory activity. Human peripheral blood NK cells were co-cultured with tumor target cell line K562 for 4 hours with GolgiStop (brefeldin) then stained for granule exocytosis marker CD107a / CD107b, and NK cell markers then FACS sorted for responding NK cells (CD107+) and non-responding NK cells (CD107-). Pooled donor sample comprised NK cells from 3 individuals.