title: Natural killer activity and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity in progressive systemic sclerosis.
abstract: Enhanced natural killer (NK) activity and normal lymphocyte antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) were observed in 16 patients with a diagnosis of progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS). Higher NK activity levels were observed against NK-sensitive K562 target cells, while the NK-resistant P815, Daudi and Raji cell lines were not lysed. Cytofluorimetric studies and morphological analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) showed an increased number of CD16 positive cells and large granular lymphocytes (LGL), indicating that the enhancement observed was probably attributable to an increase in the number of circulating NK cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Expermental Medicine, University of L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grazia Cifone
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Giacomelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Famularo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paolini
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Danese
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Napolitano
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Procopio
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Perego
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santoni
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tonietti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000920:Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008875:Middle Aged; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000276:immunology