title: Experimental studies of immunologically mediated enteropathy. II. Role of natural killer cells in the intestinal phase of murine graft-versus-host reaction.
abstract: This study has investigated whether natural killer (NK) cells play a protective or an effector role in unirradiated mice with graft-versus-host reaction (GvHR). Treatment of (CBA X BALB/c)F1 mice with anti-asialo GM1 (ASGM1) antibody produced a profound depletion of resting NK-cell activity and also inhibited the normal enhancement of NK activity found after induction of a GvHR with CBA spleen cells. Compared with normal hosts, mice treated with anti-AsGM1 developed less splenomegaly in GvHR and did not show the crypt hyperplasia normally found in this model of GvHR. Anti-AsGM1 also produced a small but significant reduction of intraepithelial lymphocyte (IEL) numbers in the jejunum of control mice. We conclude that intestinal NK cells are an essential component of the local delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction which is responsible for the intestinal phase of GvHR in unirradiated mice.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; D006028:Glycosphingolipids / Q000276:immunology; D006087:Graft vs Host Reaction; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000276:immunology; D007583:Jejunum / Q000276:immunology*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006028:Glycosphingolipids; D005677:G(M1) Ganglioside; C018835:asialo GM1 ganglioside