Adriamycin induced resistance of sensitive K 562 cells to natural killer lymphocyte attack.
The effect of Adriamycin (ADM) on erythroleukaemia K 562 cell susceptibility to human natural killer (NK) cell activity has been studied. When cultivated for 3 days in the presence of 10 to 40 nM ADM, K 562 cells decreased their susceptibility to NK-mediated lysis in a dose-dependent fashion. At a concentration of 40 nM, previously found to induce optimal differentiation-associated properties in K 562 cells, the induced resistance to NK-mediated lysis increased progressively from day 1 to day 3 of culture. ADM treatment did not induce K 562 cells to release factors which interfered with NK activity since supernatants from ADM-treated K 562 cell cultures caused no significant modification in the NK lytic process. Binding to NK of ADM-treated K 562 cells was unaffected since treated and untreated cells had identical capacities in a conjugate-forming cell assay or adsorption of NK cells on target cell monolayers. In cold target competition assays ADM-treated K 562 cells acted as more effective competitors than untreated K 562 cells. These observations imply that the reduced killing of the ADM-treated K 562 cells was independent of target-NK cell recognition, and suggest that ADM treatment could allow malignant cells to escape NK surveillance.
D000327:Adsorption; D002460:Cell Line; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000187:drug effects*; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000276:immunology*
D004317:Doxorubicin