BACKGROUNDTo culture and proliferate dendritic cells from the peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer, to observe the morphologic and phenotypic characteristics of these cells and to lay a foundation for applying dendritic cells in the biotherapy of lung cancer.

METHODSThe mononuclear cells isolated from peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer were cultured with the supplement of DCGF to generate dendritic cells. Tumor associated antigens were added into dendritic cell culture on the eighth day. The morphologic characteristics of those cells were observed with inverted or electron microscopes and the phenotypic figures were analyzed with FCM.

RESULTSA large number of mature dendritic cells were obtained from the peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer and showed specific morphologic and phenotypic characteristics. The specific antigen expressed as follows: CD80: 81.8%, HLA DR: 98.3%, CD86: 69.8%, CD1a: 19.7%, CD14: 83.1%.

CONCLUSIONSThe mature dendritic cells can be obtained by culturing the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients, which lays the further foundation for clinical biotherapy of tumor.