title: Depressed NK cell activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in untreated hodgkin's disease: enhancing effect of interferon in vitro.
abstract: Natural killer (NK) cell activity of unseparated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 30 untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease and 22 age- and sex-matched normal controls was evaluated using the classical K 562 cells as targets. A significant defect was demonstrated in the patients with stage I-II and seemed to be more profound in patients with advanced disease (stage III-IV) and in those with B symptoms. The differences between subgroups of patients, however, were not statistically significant, mostly because of the wide dispersion of individual data. Pre-incubation of effector cells with alpha A leucocyte recombinant interferon led to a clear increase in NK cell activity in 4 of 6 patients tested, showing that depressed NK activity in Hodgkin's disease is still susceptible to the enhancing effect of interferon, at least in some patients.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007372:Interferons / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D007372:Interferons