Abstract
Lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells have been shown to have anti-tumor.effect in vitro and in vuvo. Prompted by our recent finding that LAK cells mediate both veto and natural suppression, we tested the ability of adoptively transferred LAK cells to block lethal graft-versus-host disease.
Lethal GVHD was induced in sublethally irradiated (5.5 Gy)Balb/C mice by injecting C 57 BL/6 spleen cells intraperitoneally. Nearly all mice receiving this dose of irradiation alone survived whereas irradiated mice injected with C 57 BL/6 spleen cells alone all died of lethal GVH by day 12. By contrast, similarly treated mice all survived when they were coinjected on the same day or one day later with lymphokine-activated recipient-type Balb/C spleen cells.
These findings provide a substantial background of experience which could be readilly applicable to future trials of adoptive immunotherapy with LAK cells to prevent GVHD.
