Natural killer-cell activity under conditions reflective of tumor micro-environment

✍ Scribed by David A. Loeffler; Gloria H. Heppner; Paul L. Juneau

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 507 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910480617

✦ Synopsis

Natural-killer(NK) activity was examined in the presence of low oxygen tension, low glucose concentration and acidic PH, to determine whether physical conditions present in the tumor micro-environment could play a role in down-regulating cytolytic activity of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes with NK phenotype. Anoxia (0% 03, but not hypoxia (I % 03, significantly reduced NK activity, as did acidic PH (6.4 or 6.7). Low glucose concentration (6 mg/dl) did not impair NK activity.

Combinations of either moderate (I % 0,, 26 mg/dl glucose, PH 6.7) or extreme (0% 0,, 6 mg/dl glucose, PH 6.4) alteration of physical conditions significantly reduced NK activity. This study indicates that the physico-chemical conditions present within solid tumors are capable of down-regulating N K activity.