ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of cytapheresis in adoptive cellular immunotherapy (ACI). The ability of a cytapheresis cell separator apparatus to efficiently remove a specific component of blood, such as mononuclear cells, is determined by the instrument’s efficiency in separating blood into distinctive layers by centrifugation on the basis of differences in cell density or drag coefficients in a current. Commercial cytapheresis instruments fall into two categories: the intermittent flow centrifuge and the continuous flow centrifuge. The influence of the cell separation instrument used in ACI trials is an important technical aspect that needs to be evaluated. It is desirable to discontinue recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) administration before beginning cytapheresis in order to increase the yield of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, because LAK precursor cells rapidly disappear from the peripheral blood during rIL-2 administration; such that maximal number can be obtained during initiation of cytapheresis.
