Fig. 1

Allogeneic activated-NK cells are effective against bladder cancer stem and non-stem cells. a Representative FACS dot-plots of CD107a release in resting and 24- or 48-h IL-2/IL-15-activated CD3⁻CD56⁺ NK cells after 4 h co-culture with spheres and corresponding parental cells at a 3:1 effector-to-target (E:T) ratio. The graph shows the percentage of CD3⁻CD56⁺CD107a⁺ expressing cells. PMA/ionomycin was used as the positive control and NK cells alone as the negative control. b Release of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and granzyme B by 48-h activated NK cells after 4 h co-culture with parental or spheres at an E:T ratio of 10:1, determined by ELISA. Graphs represent the means ± SEM, n = 4. c Percentage of dead target cells measured by the ⁵¹Cr-release assay after 4 h co-culture with resting and IL-2/IL-15-activated NK cells at different E:T ratios. K562 cells were used as a positive control. Graphs show the mean ± SEM, n = 5