Abstract
The natural killer (NK) activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from patients with various chronic liver diseases and controls was examined using 16 hr 51Cr-releasing cytotoxicity assay against YAC-1 and RSa cells. Partially, IFN-α was added in vitro to determine the degree of augmentation of NK activity against RSa.
NK activity against YAC-1 was significantly higher in CAH & in LC than in controls or in CIH. NK activity against RSa was higher in CAH & in LC, while it was lower in LC+HCC than in controls.
Augmentation of NK activity by IFN-α addition was observed in all cases tested. When 10000 IU/ml of IFN-α was added, the stimulation index of each group was not differ from one another.
These results indicate that NK activity of PBL may be implicated with progression of chronic liver diseases, and that IFN may have an important role of controling the NK system even in chronic liver diseases.
