Journal: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica. B

Article Title: A triple combination strategy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Aptamer-guided liposomal chemotherapy, engineered NK cells, and Fc-enhanced PD-L1 antibody therapy

doi: 10.1016/j.apsb.2025.10.007

Figure Lengend Snippet: Aptamer-engineered NK cells exhibit enhanced targeted cytotoxicity and effector functions against NPC cells. (A) Cytotoxicity of NK, S3-NK, P-NK, and S3-P-NK cells against 5-8F target cells, measured by LDH release assay across a range of effector-to-target (E:T) ratios after a 2 h co-culture. (B) Flow cytometry images demonstrated that NP69, 5-8F, and C666-1 cells were co-cultured with NK cells at a 10:1 E:T ratio for 2 h, washed with PBS, and co-incubated for 24 h, leading to apoptosis and necrosis. (C) Quantification of total apoptotic (early + late) and necrotic cell populations from the analysis shown in (B). (D) Schematic of the proposed mechanism for S3-P-NK cell-mediated antitumor immunity, involving targeted recognition followed by the release of cytotoxic granules (perforin, granzyme B) and immunostimulatory cytokines (IFN- γ ). (E–G) ELISA quantification of effector molecules released into the supernatant after co-culture of NK cells with 5-8F or C666-1 target cells (E:T = 10:1) for 2 h, PBS washing, and co-incubation for 24 h: (E) IFN- γ , (F) Granzyme B, (G) Perforin. Data in (A, C, E, F, G) are presented as mean ± SD ( n = 3). Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA. ∗ P < 0.05, ∗∗ P < 0.01, ∗∗∗ P < 0.001, ∗∗∗∗ P < 0.0001; ns, not significant.

Article Snippet: ELISA kits for human IFN- γ (CSB-E08636h), granzyme B (CSB-E08718h), and perforin (CSB-E09313h) were acquired from Cusabio (Wuhan, China).

Techniques: Lactate Dehydrogenase Assay, Co-Culture Assay, Flow Cytometry, Cell Culture, Incubation, Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay