Natural killer cell activity in human bone marrow recipients: early reappearance of peripheral natural killer activity in graft-versus-host disease.

Natural killer (NK) cell activity toward K562 target cells and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) toward L1210 cell sensitized with anti-L1210 antisera were sequentially tested in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from 24 human bone marrow (BM) recipients. Although consistently decreased before the transplant, NK cell activity was restored in all of the patients tested that argues for a bone marrow origin of NK progenitors in humans. In patients without graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), peripheral NK cell activity remained low during the 1st month after the transplant, then rapidly increased and reached normal values usually between days 30 and 50. By contrast, peripheral ADCC appeared earlier restored (since day 13), suggesting that NK and ADCC are two distinct effector mechanisms. When restored, peripheral NK cell activity remained within normal range, except in seven cases with a drastic fall in NK cell values contemporary with a severe viral infection, mainly with cytomegalovirus (CMV). NK cells are thus suggested to play an important role in the control of viral infections in these deeply immunodepressed patients. In patients with acute GVHD, strikingly high NK values were observed early after the transplant, and during the 1st month a strong correlation did exist between high NK values and acute GVHD occurrence. These results suggest that cells involved in GVHD mechanism are able to exert NK cell activity at some stages of their maturation. The assessment of NK cell activity could be an attractive routine procedure for monitoring the prophylaxis of GVHD in human BM recipients.