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Fig. 4 | Breast Cancer Research

Fig. 4

From: Ex vivo expanded natural killer cells from breast cancer patients and healthy donors are highly cytotoxic against breast cancer cell lines and patient-derived tumours

Fig. 4

Expanded natural killer (NK) cells prevent the establishment and growth of tumour in a xenograft mouse model. a A group of five mice (the NK cell group) was injected IV with a dose of 10 million expanded NK cells at one day prior to tumour injection (day –1). At day 0, both groups (NK cell group and control group) were given a tumour injection of 0.5 × 106 MDA-MB-231/luc cells IV. The NK cell group was given NK cells again at days 1, 5, 8, and 12. Both groups received daily IL-2 injections (20,000 Units). Mice were imaged using Xenogen IVIS Imager on days 1, 7, and 14. b Shows the bioluminescence pictures of the mice. c Total bioluminescence intensity (photons per second) was analysed and graphed. Two-way ANOVA was used to compare the two groups, and a Bonferroni was used as a post-hoc test to compare the difference between the two groups at a specific time point (n = 5, mean ± SEM). **P < 0.005, ***P < 0.0005. d Mice were euthanized on day 15 and lungs were collected and fixed in 10% formalin. Histology slides were then obtained and stained with haematoxylin and eosin stain. Shown are representative histology slides of the lungs of two control mice and two NK cell group mice. e Blood was collected from mice on day 15. Cells were stained with mCD45, hCD45, CD56, and CD3 antibodies and examined via flow cytometry. Percent human CD45+ cells were calculated based on total mCD45+ and hCD45+ cells and graphed. Percent of CD56+CD3– NK cells within the hCD45 gate was graphed. f An example of gating: cells were gated on the lymphocyte gate, then the hCD45+mCD45– gate, and finally on CD56+CD3– cells

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