OBJECTIVE Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are T-cells that display effective anti-tumor activity. In this study, we investigated the anti-tumor activity of CIK cells in vitro, and conducted a preliminary investigation using autologous CIK cells to treat glioma patients through local administration.METHODS The CIK cells were derived from peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) of the glioma patients. The anti-tumor activity of the CIK cells against human T98-G glioma cell was tested In vitro. In addition, the autologous CIK cells were locally administrated into the tumor cavity in the malignant glioma patients through an Ommaya reservoir which was pre-inserted during tumor resection. The 4×108 CIK cells in a 5 ml suspension were injected once a week 2 times per cycle. Five hundreds KU of IL-2 was injected every other day.RESULTS (I) With incubation, the CIK cells showed dual staining of CD3+CD56+ with a positive rate of 3.45% on day 10 and 55.2% on day 30. In vitro anti-tumor activity (againstT98-G cells) of the CIK cells reached the highest level after 18 days of incubation with different effector/target (E:T) ratios. (ii)Six patients received autologous CIK cell treatment (10 cycles).Two patients showed no recurrence and are still alive (24 and 10 months), while 4 cases had a recurrence 3 of which have died. The mean survival time from the first CIK cell treatment to the end of follow-up was 12.5 months. The main side-effects of the local CIK cell treatment was brain edema, which was controlled by mannitol in most of the cases. However for one patient injection of CIK cells and IL-2 had to be discontinued.CONCLUSION In vitro CIK cells are effective anti-glioma T-cells. Local therapy with CIK cells has potential anti-glioma efficacy and tolerable side-effects.