Henney C S, Tracey D, Durdik J M, Klimpel G
Am J Pathol. 1978 Nov;93(2):459-68.
A nonadherent, nonphagocytic mouse cell found in lymphoid organelles, but lacking characteristic surface markers of mature lymphocytes, is capable of lysing a wide spectrum of tumor cells but shows little cytolytic activity toward normal cells. This cytotoxic cell, termed a "natural killer" (NK) cell, shows a marked capacity to lyse lymphomas (syngeneic, allogeneic, or even xenogeneic) to the effector cell source. Its activity is inhibited by a variety of pharmacologic agents, eg, cytochalasins, cAMP-"active" drugs, and colchicine, over the same dose range at which these drugs inhibit other cytotoxic cells. We have no evidence that NK cell "specificities" are clonally distributed. Two sets of evidence are presented which suggest that the same NK cell population is responsible for lysing a variety of tumor target cells. Preliminary evidence suggests that modulation of NK cell levels in vivo is correlated with resistance to challenge with a syngeneic tumor, inferring that NK cells may play a salient role in host defenses against neoplasia.
一种存在于淋巴器官中的非黏附、非吞噬性小鼠细胞，缺乏成熟淋巴细胞的特征性表面标志物，能够裂解多种肿瘤细胞，但对正常细胞几乎没有细胞溶解活性。这种细胞毒性细胞被称为“自然杀伤”（NK）细胞，对淋巴瘤（同基因、异基因甚至异种基因）具有显著的裂解能力，相对于效应细胞来源而言。其活性受到多种药理剂的抑制，例如细胞松弛素、cAMP“活性”药物和秋水仙碱，在这些药物抑制其他细胞毒性细胞的相同剂量范围内。我们没有证据表明NK细胞“特异性”是克隆分布的。提出了两组证据，表明同一NK细胞群体负责裂解多种肿瘤靶细胞。初步证据表明，体内NK细胞水平的调节与同基因肿瘤攻击的抗性相关，这意味着NK细胞可能在宿主对抗肿瘤的防御中发挥重要作用。
