Trafficking of CIK cells.

BALB/c splenocytes were retrovirally transduced with the pGC-gfp/luc vector, FACS sorted, and expanded under CIK culture conditions as described in “Material and methods.” Transduced CIK cells were injected intravenously into syngeneic animals bearing a macroscopically visible A20-lymphoma subcutaneously (n = 6 in 2 separate experiments). Shown in the figure is the repetitive imaging of one representative animal. Day 0: early localization of CIK cells to the lungs; day 1: distribution to other sites, including liver and spleen; day 3: preferential infiltration of subcutaneous tumor site (shaved area, lower right quadrant, and shaved control area in the middle of the back of the animal); day 12: regression of tumor and minimal signal from remaining CIK cells. For days 3 and 12, tangential photographs (grayscale) are shown for a better tumor localization and the bioluminescent overlay (bioluminescence) for CIK cell localization.