Quantification of NK cell activity using whole blood: Methodological aspects of a new test
Quantification of NK cell activity using whole blood: Methodological aspects of a new test
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jim.2018.04.002
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发表时间：
2018-07-01
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Hansen, Torben Frostrup
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Nederby, Line;Jakobsen, Anders;Hansen, Torben Frostrup
Natural Killer (NK) cells are essential in the biological fight against cancer and intracellular pathogens, and their level of activity has in many settings been used as a biomarker for a functional immune response. Currently, NK cell activity is measured using either Cr-51-release assays or flow cytometry based assays revealing the cells' cytotoxic capacity or by stimulating them to produce cytokines. Although very effective, these are cumbersome techniques not suitable for high volume clinical laboratories.Recently, an assay has been introduced to measure NK cell activity in a simple and standardized manner. Following stimulation of NK cells in whole blood with a recombinant protein, it utilizes the concentration of IFN gamma released to the plasma as a surrogate marker for NK cell activity. However, whole blood holds several sources of IFN gamma which may blur the results and hamper the interpretation of the test. Therefore, the present study aimed at analyzing how specifically the test is measuring the activity of NK cells.Intracellular flow cytometry showed that NK cells, T cells, and Natural Killer T (NKT) cells were producing IFN gamma in the assay, however when analyzing the distribution of lymphocytes in the IFN gamma-expressing subset, the proportion of NK cells far exceeded the percentage of T-, and NKT cells (p
