The biological behavior of drug-resistantovarian cancer cells and changes in the CA125 and HE4 levels after CIK interventions.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the biological behavior of drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells and changes in the cancer antigen 125 (CA125) and human epididymal protein 4 (HE4) levels after the application of cytokine-induced killer (CIK) intervention.

METHODS

Drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells (namely SKVCR) were treated with CIK at different concentrations to observe the changes in the cell survival and cell morphology and the CA125, HE4, cytokine transforming growth factor-α (TGF-α), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels in the cell lines before and after intervention.

RESULTS

With an increase in the CIK concentration, the survival rate of the SKVCR cell lines showed a decreasing trend. Under a constant CIK concentration, the survival rate of the SKVCR cell lines gradually decreased over time but become stable at 72 h. Before the CIK intervention, the SKVCR cells were full and rounded in shape, but after the CIK intervention, there was remarkable cell shrinkage and an increase in apoptotic cells. Compared with before the CIK intervention, the CA125 and HE4 levels were significantly decreased, but the TGF-α and TNF-α levels were increased (<0.05).

CONCLUSION

After the CIK intervention in the drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells, the cell survival rate decreases with an increase in the CIK concentration or an extension of the intervention time, and the cell morphology will be significantly improved, and the CA125, HE4, and other related cytokine levels will also change significantly, suggesting that CIK can kill drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells.