Fig. 6

hRT/IL-2c combination treatment strongly promotes the expansion of peripheral T and NK cells which can infiltrate the irradiated tumor. a Mice bearing a B16-CD133 tumor were treated with hRT alone or hRT followed by i.p. injections of IL-2c for five consecutive days as depicted in Fig. 1b. One day later (corresponding to day 11 after RT), the proportion of proliferating (Ki67+) CD8+ and CD4+ T cells and NK cells from tumor, spleen, lymph nodes, blood, and bone marrow was determined by flow cytometry. b CD8+ T and NK cells were isolated from extratumoral compartments (spleen, lymph nodes, and blood) of hRT/IL-2c-treated mice, labeled with Cell Trace Violet and transferred into B16-CD133 tumor-bearing mice 3 days after tumor irradiation without prior lymphodepletion. Daily IL-2c-treatment of the recipient mice was started at the day of the transfer. Three days later, the proportion of donor CD8+ T cells and NK cells (upper left), including tumor-specific, tetramer-binding T cells (lower left), and their proliferation (right) in spleen and tumor of recipient mice were determined by flow cytometry