Methods for inducing a natural killer (NK) cell-mediated immune response and for increasing NK cell activity

1. A method for detecting a cytotoxic NK cell-mediated immune response in a subject, comprising:

(a) isolating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) comprising dendritic cells from the subject;

(b) exposing said PBMCs in vitro to a protein conjugate comprising granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) covalently linked to a soluble peptide antigen, said protein conjugate comprising SEQ ID NO: 5 or SEQ ID NO: 7, under conditions effective to activate said PBMCs;

(c) assessing the level of an NK cell response in the activated PBMCs;

(d) administering said activated PBMCs to the subject;

(e) repeating steps (a) and (b) at least 10 days after the previous step (d) has occurred, resulting in a second isolation of PBMCs; and

(f) assessing the level of an NK cell response in the activated PBMCs from the second isolation,

wherein said activated PBMCs are effective in activating NK cells to produce a cytotoxic cellular response at a level higher than that produced by the PBMCs which have not been activated by the protein conjugate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said protein conjugate comprises a fusion protein having the sequence depicted as SEQ ID NO: 5.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said protein conjugate comprises a fusion protein having the sequence depicted as SEQ ID NO: 7.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said mammalian subject is a human.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said protein conjugate is produced in a baculovirus expression system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) at least once with each cycle beginning at least 14 days after step (c) has occurred.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said step (d) is performed in vitro by CD336 surface expression.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein said step (d) is performed in vitro lysis of the K562 tumor line.

9. A method for determining whether a subject has had a therapeutically effective response to a protein conjugate, comprising,

(a) isolating PBMCs comprising dendritic cells from the subject;

(b) exposing said PBMCs in vitro to a protein conjugate comprising granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) covalently linked to a soluble peptide antigen, said protein conjugate comprising SEQ ID NO: 5 or SEQ ID NO: 7, under conditions effective to activate said PBMCs;

(c) administering said activated PBMCs to the subject;

(d) repeating steps (a) and (b) at least 10 days after step (c) has occurred; and

(e) determining a change in NK cell activity of the activated PBMCs.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining step (e) includes assessing the NK activity of the activated PBMCs from the previous isolation; and determining the change in the NK activity over the level of NK activity of the activated PBMCs prior to the first administration.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein said step (e) is performed in vitro by CD336 surface expression.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said step (e) is performed in vitro lysis of the K562 tumor line.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein said steps (a) through (c) are performed a total of two times and wherein 14 days has elapsed since the previous step (c) has occurred.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein said steps (a) through (c) are performed a total of three times and wherein 14 days has elapsed since the previous step (c) has occurred.