Establishment of a neuroblastoma cell line and induction of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity against the autologous neuroblastoma cell line.

We have established a new human neuroblastoma (NB) cell line from the bone marrow of a 1-year-old boy with NB, termed JK-NB1, which showed constant growth for as long as 17 months or more, similar phenotype to those of other reported NB cell lines, colony formation in liquid and methylcellulose culture, N-myc amplification, high expression of N-CAM, and NSE production. We have tried to induce LAK cell activity with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from the patient against the autochthonous JK-NB cells. PBMCs from the patient proliferated up to 20-fold in the presence of interleukin-2 (IL-2) after 9 days of incubation, and LAK activity increased up to 24.7-fold and killed all of the JK-NB1 cells. In contrast, IL-2 alone or PBMCs from the patient or a healthy adult donor had little effect on the growth of NB cells. These data suggest that it is possible to induce LAK cell activity in PBMCs from the patient against autologous as well as allogenic NB cells, and provide a rational base for the clinical use of IL-2 as one of the treatments for NB.