About the Authors

Jan Spanholtz

Affiliation Laboratory of Hematology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Marleen Tordoir

Contributed equally to this work with: Marleen Tordoir, Diana Eissens

Affiliation Laboratory of Hematology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Diana Eissens

Contributed equally to this work with: Marleen Tordoir, Diana Eissens

Affiliation Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Frank Preijers

Affiliation Laboratory of Hematology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Arnold van der Meer

Affiliation Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Irma Joosten

Affiliation Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Nicolaas Schaap

Affiliation Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Hematology, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Theo M. de Witte

Affiliations Laboratory of Hematology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Laboratory of Medical Immunology, Department of Hematology, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Harry Dolstra

h.dolstra@chl.umcn.nl

Affiliation Laboratory of Hematology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

The work relates to GBGM® medium for ex-vivo generation of NK-cells, which is a commercially available cell culture medium previously developed by Glycostem Therapeutics. Purchase and/or use of GBGM® medium is not restricted by patent rights. Glycostem Therapeutics has acted as sponsor in part of this research. Authors Spanholtz and Tordoir are employees of Glycostem, scientifically directed by Dolstra. Compensation for Dolstra's involvement in this project is paid by Glycostem to the overall research budget of RUNMC. RUNMC and Glycostem cooperate on the basis of a research collaboration agreement which regulates the above interests. Neither Dolstra nor RUNMC have a financial interest in Glycostem. All authors confirm that this does not alter their adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors. The authors agree to make freely available any materials and information associated with their publication that are reasonably requested by others for the purpose of academic, non-commercial research.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JS HD. Performed the experiments: JS MT DE. Analyzed the data: JS MT DE HD. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JS FWP AvdM IJ. Wrote the paper: JS HD. Revised the paper: FWP, AvdM, IJ, NPMS, TDW.