2014 Volume 40 Issue 5 Pages 438-442
In this study, we examined the immunostimulatory effects of powder from barley-shochu distillation remnants (PSDR) on a human natural killer (NK) cell line, KHYG-1, in vitro. Treatment of NK cells with PSDR induced the expression of NKG2D, an activating NK receptor on the cell surface, and increased the cytotoxicity toward NK-sensitive target leukemia (K562) cells and NK-resistant target hepatoma (HepG2) cells. On the other hand, treatment of K562 cells with PSDR induced ligands (MICA/B) for NKG2D on the cell surface and increased the sensitivity to NK cells. These results show that PSDR has immunostimulatory effects in vitro resulting from increased cytotoxicity of NK cells to cancer cells.
