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Natural killer (NK) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell functions from healthy dogs and 29 dogs with a variety of spontaneous neoplasms

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Abstract

To investigate natural killer (NK) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell functions from 10 healthy dogs and 29 dogs with a variety of spontaneous neoplasms, large granular lymphocytes (LGLs) from blood samples were separated by a 58.5% Percoll density gradient. LGLs were stimulated with a low dose of recombinant human interleukin 2 (rhIL-2) for 7 days. Cytotoxicity of effector cells against the susceptible CTAC cell line was measured before and after stimulation. Compared with those before stimulation, the percentage of LGLs after stimulation with rhIL-2 was found to be significantly increased (P<0.01) in both dogs with tumors and controls. However, the increase was significantly higher in control animals, indicating a defect in proliferation ability of NK cells in canine tumor patients. After stimulation with rhIL-2, lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell activity in dogs with tumors was significantly lower (P<0.01) when compared with controls. Reduced cytotoxicity of rhIL-2–activated NK cells in dogs with tumors seems to be attributable to the presence of a diminished proliferative capacity of NK cells and a decreased ability of LAK cells to lyse target cells. Further knowledge of the precise function of IL-2–activated NK cells in dogs with tumors may help to optimize new and therapeutically beneficial treatment strategies in canine and human cancer patients. Our findings suggest that the dog could also serve as a relevant large animal model for cancer immunotherapy with IL-2.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Katrin Schmitz for excellent statistical support, Jacqueline Gillis for the careful review of the manuscript, and Ernst-Günther Grünbaum and Hartwig Bostedt with co-workers for providing the blood samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Veterinär-Pathologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Jürgen Funk, Gabriele Schmitz & Eberhard Burkhardt

  2. Institut für Veterinär-Physiologie, Arbeitsgruppe Biomathematik und Datenverarbeitung, Justus-Liebig-Universität, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Klaus Failing

  3. Pharma Research Basel Non-Clinical Drug Safety (PRBN-S), F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Building 73, Room 216A, 4070, Basel, Switzerland

    Jürgen Funk

Authors
  1. Jürgen Funk
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  2. Gabriele Schmitz
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  3. Klaus Failing
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  4. Eberhard Burkhardt
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Correspondence to Jürgen Funk.

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Funk, J., Schmitz, G., Failing, K. et al. Natural killer (NK) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell functions from healthy dogs and 29 dogs with a variety of spontaneous neoplasms. Cancer Immunol Immunother 54, 87–92 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-004-0555-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-004-0555-3

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