title: Increased LAK activity against HIV-infected cell lines in HIV-1+ individuals.
abstract: The role of natural killer (NK) cells and their inducible counterparts, lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells in AIDS with regard to HIV-1 viral immunosurveillance and the control of secondary opportunistic disease has yet to be established. In this study, we have demonstrated that LAK cells derived from all HIV-1+ groups showed striking increases in their capacity to lyse HIV-1-infected U-937 cells relative to their uninfected U-937 counterparts. Surprisingly, similarly derived LAK cells from healthy seronegative controls showed no differences in their lysis of HIV-1-infected versus uninfected U-937 cells. The differential ability of LAK effectors from seropositive donors to lyse HIV-1-infected targets was demonstrable using a number of U-937 subclones and their HIV-1-infected counterparts. Again, no differences in LAK cell-mediated lysis of HIV-1-infected and uninfected U-937 subclones were observed in seronegative individuals. Our findings that HIV-1+ individuals show selective expansion of non-MHC restricted, HIV-1-directed cytotoxic LAK cells indicate that natural immunity may indeed play a role in HIV-1 viral immunosurveillance.
authors.affiliation: McGill AIDS Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gryllis
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Wainberg
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bentwich
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gornitsky
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Brenner
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000032:analysis; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis; D019002:CD56 Antigen; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D015979:Killer Cells, Lymphokine-Activated / Q000502:physiology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D019002:CD56 Antigen