Changing in the regulatory system of NK cells in patients with
AML post activation in vitro
Fas ligand and TRAIL as death ligands on the surface of NK cells can
activate target killing by attaching death receptors on the target cell,
which activates NK cell cytotoxicity through caspase-8 dependent pathway
extrinsic apoptosis 18. We expected that Fas ligand
expression upregulated in activated groups. However, its over-activated
when the NK-cells were treated with IL-15 + Hsp70 (p<0.0001,Fig. 5A ). Similarly, TRAIL expression also increased in IL-15 +
Hsp70 group but it was just significant to IL-15 + PD-1 blocker + Hsp70
group (p<0.0089, Fig. 5B ). Studies showed that
PI3K–AKT–mTOR pathway is the main pathway in regulating the
development, differentiation, and activation processes of immune cells
like NK cells 19. Also, PIK3CB, as a subunit of
(phosphoinositide 3-kinase) PI3K, has a crucial role in NK cell
cytotoxicity 20. In the assessment of the AKT-1 gene,
it seems that the PD-1 blocker in combination of IL-15 has the potential
to increase its expression levels (Fig. 5C ). Also, the
increased expression level of PIK3CB in the IL-15 + PD-1 blocker treated
NK cells was significant in comparison to other groups
(p<0.01, Fig. 5D ) excluding the IL-15 + PD-1 blocker
+ Hsp70 group which was not significant (p>0.05,Fig. 5D ).