Large-Scale Serum-Free Culture Service for CIK Cell
Cytokine-Induced Killer (CIK) cells are a heterogeneous immune cell population induced from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using a combination of cytokines (e.g., IFN-γ, IL-1, IL-2, and anti-CD3 antibody). Their uniqueness lies in simultaneously expressing CD3 (a T cell marker) and CD56 (an NK cell marker). This equips CIK cells not only with the potent specific proliferation and memory potential inherited from T cells but also with the MHC-unrestricted direct killing capability of NK cells. They exhibit broad-spectrum cytotoxic activity against various tumor cell lines and are less likely to induce severe graft-versus-host disease.
However, traditional CIK culture methods face challenges such as limited expansion fold, long cycles, significant batch-to-batch variation, and high contamination risk, making it difficult to meet the stringent clinical-grade requirements for cell numbers (often in the billions) and product quality consistency. This has become a key obstacle limiting their wider application.
To address this, Creative Diagnostics offers a professional large-scale culture service for CIK cells. Leveraging our validated thousand-fold immune cell expansion platform combined with a full-process serum-free culture system, we are committed to providing an efficient, stable, and compliant solution. We guarantee stable expansion exceeding 1000-fold within two weeks, delivering CIK cell products with a high proportion of functional cells that meet strict quality release standards, fully supporting your preclinical research, process optimization, and clinical trial material preparation.
Core Service Content
Creative Diagnostics provides "end-to-end" customized CIK cell production services, from starting sample to final product.
| Service Module | Specific Content & Description |
| Peripheral Blood Sample Processing & PBMC Preparation | Professional processing of healthy donor or patient peripheral blood samples provided by clients, efficiently isolating highly viable PBMCs as the starting seed for CIK cell induction. |
| Standardized Serum-Free CIK Induction & Large-Scale Expansion | Employs a chemically defined, serum-free medium and an optimized cytokine "cocktail" protocol. Standardized induction and large-scale expansion are conducted in closed, scalable culture systems, completely avoiding animal-derived component risks. |
| Full-Process Phenotypic & Functional Tracking Analysis | Dynamic monitoring of the culture process, focusing on tracking the proportion change and growth trend of the signature CD3+CD56+ double-positive cell population. Optional periodic assessment of cytotoxic function (against tumor cell lines like K562, HepG2) is available. |
| Comprehensive Cell Product Release Quality Testing | Executes a strict release testing package on the final cell product, including: viability & count, phenotypic identification (ensuring CD3+CD56+ >60%), sterility testing (bacteria/fungi), mycoplasma testing, endotoxin testing, and specific virus screening. |
| Clinical-Grade Formulation, Cryopreservation & Shipping | Provides formulation studies compliant with cell therapy product requirements, controlled-rate freezing services, and ensures product shipment under comprehensive cold-chain monitoring to guarantee high post-thaw viability and function upon arrival. |
Service Advantages
Our core strength lies in combining exceptional expansion capability, specific enrichment of core effector cells, and comprehensive industrial-quality control. Utilizing our mature platform process, we achieve stable expansion of CIK cells up to 1000-fold within two weeks, efficiently overcoming the clinical cell quantity bottleneck. We place particular emphasis on enriching functional CIK cells, ensuring the proportion of the key effector subset CD3+CD56+ in the final product consistently exceeds 60%. All production is conducted under a stringent quality system, guaranteeing every batch is free from adventitious agent contamination (negative for viruses, bacteria, fungi, mycoplasma, endotoxins). The process is stable and reliable, meeting scale-up needs from laboratory to clinical production scale.
Workflow
In-depth discussion of your project goals, specific specifications, and timeline requirements. We then provide a detailed technical service proposal, project budget, and contract.
Receipt of qualified peripheral blood samples you send. Upon sample registration and QC completion by the lab, PBMC isolation and CIK cell induction protocols are initiated immediately.
Cells are expanded under controlled environmental parameters. We provide regular process monitoring reports, including cell growth curves, phenotypic data, and key test results.
Upon reaching the target cell number, cells are collected, washed, and formulated. A full set of release tests is performed on the final product concurrently.
Delivery of the complete project report (including process records, test reports, COA) along with the cryopreserved CIK cell product, supported by necessary technical documentation.
Application
Large-scale produced, high-quality CIK cells are a key resource for driving innovation and translation in the field of tumor immunotherapy.
- Adoptive Cell Immunotherapy for Cancer: Serves as the core component of autologous or allogeneic CIK cell therapies, supporting clinical research and treatment for various malignancies such as liver cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and leukemia.
- Exploration of Combination Therapy Strategies: Used in combination with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and other therapies to explore synergistic effects in preclinical and clinical studies, developing more effective comprehensive cancer treatment modalities.
- Tool for Tumor Immunology Research: Provides a large supply of phenotypically stable cells for basic research on CIK cell biology, homing mechanisms, tumor immune escape, and reversal strategies.
- Platform for Novel Immune Cell Therapy Development: Can serve as a base cell population for further genetic engineering modifications (e.g., introducing CAR, enhancing homing or anti-exhaustion genes) to develop next-generation enhanced immune cell therapy products.
