Investigation of the anti-cancer efficiency of natural killer cells differentiated from adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells co-cultured with pancreatic cancer stem cells

Pancreaticcancer (PaCa) is one of the most lethal human cancers with a 5-year survival rate of 3–5 % (approximately 6 monthssurvive). Mesenchymal stem cells are cells which can be proliferated in vitro. Adipose tissue is a rich source of MSCs and it can be usually obtained by a non-invasive surgical procedure easily and abundantly. Natural killer (NK) cells are critical mediators of host immunity against malignancy and infection and its potential in mediating anti-tumor responses has been shown by many studies. In our study; commercially available AD-MSCs were cultured in recommended culture media untill it reached to confluency. Cultured ADMSCs gained hematopoietic characteristics after hematopoietic induction and then were differantiated to NK cells. NK cells obtained were characterised by immunohistochemical analysis via labeling the cells with CD314/NKG2D antibody and NK-specific gene expression analysis were determined by RT-PCR. While the apoptotic activity of NK cells on PaCa cells was determined by TUNEL assays, its inhibitory effect on expression levels of genes which were known to be responsible of pancreas cancer were investigated by RT-PCR analysis by determining the alterations in gene expression levels. In conclusion, NK cells were obtained by hematopoietic induction and then differentiation from ADMSCs its effect on pancreatic cancer was shown in vitro and it can be recommended for further clinical aplications.