A new high-yield continuous cell-culture system for lymphokine-activated killer cells.

We performed basic studies on a new high-yield culture system (concentrate rotary tissue-culture system) for application to adoptive immunotherapy with lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. Using this system, we demonstrated that up to 2 x 10(7) peripheral blood mononuclear cells/ml could be cultured in interleukin-2 with a sufficient recovery rate and cytotoxicity in short-term cultures (6 days). This system can also be used to proliferate LAK cells to four times the initial cell number with sufficient cytotoxicity for 14 days of culture. Thus, this system allows activation of sufficient numbers of cells to conduct clinical trials on humans.