In vitro resistance of the brown Norway rat acute myelocytic leukemia (BNML) to lymphokine-activated killer activity.

In in vivo allogeneic bone marrow transplantation studies with the Brown Norway (BN) rat as recipient and the WAG/Rij rat as allogeneic donor a significant graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect is observed. Studies were performed to investigate whether lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells play a role in this GVL effect. Splenocytes from WAG/Rij and BN rats were activated in vitro by recombinant human interleukin-2 (rhIL-2) for 5-6 days. The cytolytic activity of these LAK cells was tested on four rat solid tumor cell lines, i.e. an ureter carcinoma, a rhabdomyosarcoma, and two lung tumors, and on leukemic cells derived from the BN rat acute myelocytic leukemia (BNML) and the WAG/Rij acute lymphocytic leukemia (L4415). The panel of target cells also included the murine cell lines P815 and YAC. Both WAG/Rij and BN LAK cells were not capable of lysing the leukemic cells in contrast to significant cytolytic activity on the rat solid tumor cell lines and P815 and YAC. BNML cells showed to be resistant to lysis by human NK cells. Phenotypical analysis of the rat LAK population revealed a decrease in the CD4/CD8 ratio compared to the unstimulated splenocyte population. Rat LAK cells displayed no antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) on the leukemic cells, whereas IL-2-stimulated human peripheral blood cells showed moderate ADCC activity on the leukemic cells. To investigate whether cytokines play a role in lysis of leukemic target cells, graded numbers of LAK cells and leukemic cells were co-cultivated for seven days in an agar-based colony culture system. This resulted in moderate suppression of leukemic colony formation. From the current in vitro studies it appears that the graft-versus-leukemia observed in in vivo allogeneic bone marrow transplantation studies is probably not due to a direct leukemic cell kill by LAK cells.