title: Healthy lifestyles are associated with higher levels of perforin, granulysin and granzymes A/B-expressing cells in peripheral blood lymphocytes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is well documented that natural killer (NK) cells provide host defense against tumors and viruses. We previously showed that lifestyle affects human NK and LAK activities. In order to explore the underlying mechanism, we investigated the effect of lifestyle on intracellular perforin, granulysin, and granzymes A/B in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL).
  
  
  METHODS
  114 healthy male subjects, aged 20-59 years, from a large company in Osaka, Japan were selected with informed consent. The subjects were divided into groups reporting good, moderate, and poor lifestyles according to their responses on a questionnaire regarding eight health practices (cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, sleeping hours, working hours, physical exercise, eating breakfast, balanced nutrition, and mental stress). Peripheral blood was taken, and numbers of NK, T, perforin, granulysin, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells in PBL were measured by flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects with good or moderate lifestyle showed significantly higher numbers of NK, and perforin, granulysin, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells and a significantly lower number of T cells in PBL than subjects with poor lifestyle. Among the eight health practices, cigarette smoking, physical exercise, eating breakfast, and balanced nutrition significantly affect the numbers of NK, T cells, perforin, granulysin, and/or granzymes A/B-expressing cells, and alcohol consumption significantly affects the number of granzyme A-expressing cells. On the other hand, mental stress, sleeping, and working hours had no effect on those parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, these findings indicate that poor lifestyle significantly decreases the numbers of NK, perforin, granulysin, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells in PBL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8602, Japan. qing-li@nms.ac.jp
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kanehisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morimoto
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakadai
authors.forename: Tianli
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsushima
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katsumata
authors.forename: Takako
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Inagaki
authors.forename: Yukiyo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Kimiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.forename: Yuquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Krensky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000032:analysis*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology; D053804:Granzymes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D054353:Perforin; D052899:Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; C075005:GNLY protein, human; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D052899:Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins; D054353:Perforin; D053804:Granzymes