Summary
Natural killer (NK) cell activity against K 562 erythroleukemic- and MCF-7 breast carcinoma-derived cells was monitored in short-term (3h/ K 562) and long-term (18h/MCF-7) chromium release tests for 60 patients with untreated primary breast disease. Target cell lysis was the same for patient groups with benign (n=13) and malignant (n=47) breast disease (27% versus 36% mean chromium release; target: effector ratio 40:1 for K 562 and 28% versus 40% for MCF-7 cells). NK activity as defined by short-term lysis of K 562 cells did not correlate with MCF-7 cell lysis in long-term assays for the carcinoma patients. This functional heterogeneity of natural cytotoxic activities of breast cancer patients was confirmed by a different age distribution for K 562 and MCF-7 cell lysis and high levels of MCF-7-directed NK activity in the grade I tumor group (56.2%). Our results indicate that measurement of peripheral blood NK activity against a breast carcinoma-derived cell line (MCF-7) defines a disease-related natural cytotoxic acitivity which correlates better with prognostic tumor parameters (tumor grading) than NK activity as defined by the lysis of K 562 erythroleukemic cells. NK activity testing against breast carcinoma cell lines should be used to monitor natural cytotoxic activities in breast cancer patients and its modulation by different routes of treatment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abruzzo LV, Rowley AD (1983) Homeostasis of the antibody response: Immunoregulation by NK cells. Science 222:581–585
Bloom HJG, Richardson WW (1957) Histological grading and prognosis in breast cancer. Br J Cancer 11:359–373
Cannon GB, Bonnard GD, Djeu J, West WH, Herberman RB (1977) Relationship of human natural lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity to cytotoxicity of breast cancer-derived target cells. Int J Cancer 19:487–497
Chablos P, Vignon F, Keydar I, Rochefort H (1982) Estrogens stimulate cell proliferation and induce secretory proteins in a human breast cancer cell line (T47D). J Clin Endocrinol Metab 55:276–283
Cunningham-Rundles S, Filippa DA, Braun DW, Antonelli P, Ashikari H (1981) Natural cytotoxicity of peripheral blood lymphocytes and regional lymph node cells in breast cancer in women. J Natl Cancer Inst 67 (3):585–590
Davis BW, Gelber RD, Goldhirsch A et al. (1986) Prognostic significance of tumor grade in clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer with axillary lymph node metastasis. Cancer 58:662–2670
De Boer KP, Braun DP, Harris JE (1982) Natural cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cytotoxicity in solid tumor cancer patients: regulation by adherent cells. Clin Immunol Immunopathol 23:133–144
Grimm EA, Mazumder H, Zhang HZ, Rosenberg SA (1982) The lymphokine-activated killer cell phenomenon. J Exp Med 155:1823–1841
Hanna N, Burton RC (1981) Definitive evidence that natural killer cells inhibit experimental tumor metastasis in vivo. J Immunol 127:1754–1758
Herberman RB, Oldham RK (1975) Problems associated with study of cell-mediated immunity to human tumors by microcytotoxicity assays. J Natl Cancer Inst 55:749–753
Hersey P, Edwards A, Honeyman M, McCarthy WH (1979) Low natural killer cell activity in familial melanoma patients and their relatives. Br J Cancer 40:113–122
Kadish AS, Doyle AT, Steinhauer EH, Ghosshein NA (1981) Natural cytotoxicity and interferon production in human cancer: deficient natural killer activity and normal interferon production in patients with advanced disease. J Immunol 127:1817–1822
Lozzio CB, Lozzio BB (1975) Human chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line with positive Philadelphia chromosome. Blood 45:321–334
Obexer G, Rumpold H, Kraft D (1983) Target-effector-cell interactions in the human natural-killer(NK)-system: isolation of target structures. Immunobiology 165:15–26
Ortaldo JR, Herberman RB (1984) Heterogeneity of natural killer cells. Ann Rev Immunol 2:359–394
Phillips JH, Babcock GF (1983) A monoclonal antibody reactive against purified human natural killer cells and granulocytes. Immunol Lett 6:143–149
Pross HF, Sterns E, MacGillis DR (1984) Natural killer cell activity in women at “high risk” for breast cancer, with and without benign breast syndrome. Int J Cancer 34:303–308
Reiner A, Holzner JH, Reiner G, Spona J, Schemper M, Kolb R, Jakesz R (1985) Histological grading and prognosis in breast cancer. Verh Dtsch Ges Path 69:365–369
Reiner A, Spona J, Reiner G et al. (1986) Estrogen receptor analysis on biopsies and fine-needle aspirates from human breast carcinoma. Am J Pathol 125:443–449
Roder JC, Haliotis T, Laing L (1982) Further studies of natural killer cell function in Chediak-Higashi patients. Immunology 46:555–560
Soule HD, Vazquez S, Long A, Albert S, Brennan M (1973) A human cell line from a pleural effusion derived from a breast carcinoma. J Natl Cancer Inst 51:1409–1416
Takasugi M, Ramseyer A, Takasugi J (1977) Decline of natural nonselective cell-mediated cytotoxicity in patients with tumor progression. Cancer Res 37:413–418
Trinchieri G, Perussia B (1984) Human natural killer cells: Biologic and pathologic aspects. Lab Invest 30:489–513
Ullen H, Blom U, Blomgren H (1986) Natural killer activity of blood lymphocytes in patients with primary intracranial tumors. Correlation to histological tumor type and anatomical site. Eur J Cancer Clin Oncol 22:1239–1245
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by “Jubiläumsfond der österreichischen Nationalbank”, Project No. 2227
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hamilton, G., Reiner, A., Teleky, B. et al. Natural killer cell activities of patients with breast cancer against different target cells. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 114, 191–196 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00417836
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00417836