Abstract
In the present study we have investigated the effect of oxidative treatment on human natural killer (NK) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell activity. When peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were treated with 1mM sodium periodate (PI) for 15min at 4°C, their NK activity against K562 myelogeneous leukemia cells and the generation of LAK activity against HTC/C3 thyroid cancer cells were significantly enhanced compared to non-treated controls. When the mechanism of the augmentative effect of PI was examined, both conjugate formation and cellular ATP levels of effector cells were significantly increased. Thus, PI-treatment enhanced the binding capacity and also activated the post-binding cytolytic functions of effector cells. Taken together, our results suggest that PI-treatment of effector cells might be a potentially useful strategy for the immunotherapy of head and neck cancers.
