ALL STEM CELLS

Natural killer activity of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells in breast cancer patients(2009)

Md. Zahidunnabi Dewan, Masahiro Takada, Hiroshi Terunuma, Xuewen Deng, Sunjida Ahmed, Naoki Yamamoto, Masakazu Toi

Abstract
Natural killer (NK) activity of immune cells plays a central role in host defense against cancer and virus-infected cells. Natural cytotoxic activity of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells was assessed by a Calcein-AM release assay in 89 subjects. In the present study, we here demonstrated that NK activities of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from breast cancer patients were significantly lower as compared with that of healthy individuals. There were significant differences in the NK activities of PBMCs from HER2-negative breast cancer patients as compared with HER2-positive patients. Our results suggest that NK activity of PBMCs is lower in breast cancer indicating a role for immunological natural host defense mechanisms against cancer.

In summary, our results suggest that NK activity of immune cells may play a critical role in tumor growth and metastasis, and that autologous activated NK cells could be a promising
immunotherapeutic strategy against cancer either alone or in combination with humanized anti-tumor antibodies as a logical approach to the immunotherapy of cancer.
2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Origin : Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 63 (2009) 703-706
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Keywords: NK activity; Breast cancer; NK cell; PBMCs