title: Expression of an early myelopoietic antigen (CD33) on a subset of human umbilical cord blood-derived natural killer cells.
abstract: A new subset of natural killer (NK) cells was identified in human umbilical cord blood. This subset of CD56+/CD3- NK cells co-expressed the CD33 antigen, which is present on early hematopoietic progenitors confined to the myeloid lineage. The percentage of the CD56+/CD33+ cells among the CD56+/CD3- NK cells was 7.9 +/- 6.6% (n = 27) with a range of 1.4-25.5% and a considerable individual variability. Additionally, the majority of freshly isolated CD56+/CD33+ cells co-expressed the CD2 and CD7 antigen, a minor proportion co-expressed the CD8 antigen but essentially all of the cells stained negative for CD16 and CD57. Morphological analysis of the CD56+/CD33+ cells showed the features of large agranular lymphocytes. From some of the samples, the CD56+/CD33+ NK cells were cultivated and expanded in vitro by incubation of the cells with interleukin 2 (IL-2) for up to 50 days. Morphological analysis of the cultured CD56+/CD33+ cells showed the features of large granular lymphocytes (LGL). The IL-2-expanded CD56+/CD33+ NK cells showed only a low cytolytic activity against K562 target cells, whereas most of the NK activity of the expanded cells was contributed by the CD56+/CD33- NK cells.
authors.affiliation: Children's University Hospital, Department of Hematology/Oncology, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Handgretinger
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Schäfer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baur
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frank
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ottenlinger
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Bühring
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Niethammer
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000096:biosynthesis; D019002:CD56 Antigen; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000276:immunology; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D063268:Sialic Acid Binding Ig-like Lectin 3
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015214:Antigens, Differentiation, Myelomonocytic; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; C571163:CD33 protein, human; D019002:CD56 Antigen; D063268:Sialic Acid Binding Ig-like Lectin 3