Outline of the experimental protocol in 12 children with a stage 4 NB.

PBSCs, collected by cytapheresis, were mobilized by G-CSF with or without chemotherapy and cryopreserved for ASCT. After thawing, samples were split into parallel cultures for MD-DC differentiation and NK/LAK generation, during 1 week. Cocultures of NK/LAK ± MD-DCs were performed in most conditions at a 1:1 ratio for the next 7 days. Cultures were followed by immunophenotyping, cytotoxicity assay, and mixed lymphocyte reaction.