Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

The assessment of natural killer cell activity at baseline and the monitoring of this activity during treatment is important in many diseases especially in patients with cancer and AIDS. An optimised and standardised whole blood chromium release assay is described using K562 cells, the standard target erythroleukaemic cell line. The tumour cell lysis observed using whole blood is comparable to that obtained with the standard 4 h lysis assay using peripheral blood mononuclear cells as effector cells. Results with the whole blood assay are reproducible when the incubation with K562 cells is performed over a period of 18 h. The assay necessitates only 0.6 ml of blood collected in 10 IU/ml of sodium heparin as the anticoagulant. In this report, depletion experiments, also standardised using whole blood, show that the effector cells in the whole blood assay are contained within the CD56 + cell population. This assay will be of interest where the immunological status of patients with different diseases need to be frequently monitored.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/s0022-1759(98)00109-4

Type

Journal article

Journal

J immunol methods

Publication Date

01/08/1998

Volume

217

Pages

177 - 184

Keywords

Anticoagulants, CD56 Antigen, Cell Separation, Citric Acid, Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic, Edetic Acid, Flow Cytometry, Glucose, Heparin, Humans, K562 Cells, Killer Cells, Natural, Lymphocyte Depletion, Lymphocyte Subsets, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity