NATURAL IMMUNITY AND GRAFT-VERSUS-HOST DISEASE

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Abstract
Pretransplant natural killer (NK) activity against three types of target cells (K562, FS4, and FS4 infected with herpes simplex virus type I), and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) against P-815 cells coated with IgG, were investigated in 44 bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients and in 46 marrow donors in relation to the subsequent development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in the recipients. Patients with severe aplastic anemia had low lytic activities as compared with the marrow donors. Patients with acute leukemia had near-normal ADCC activity, but decreased NK activities. No correlation was found between any of the lytic activities in donors or recipients and the development of grades II-IV GVHD. Also, such correlation could not be demonstrated for the lytic activities of mononuclear cells in 11 marrow grafts, which had significantly lower NK (K562) and ADCC activities than those in peripheral blood. A study of 14 BMT recipients on days 5, 12, 19, and 26 post-BMT showed a weak correlation between high NK (K562) activity at day 12 and the subsequent development of grades II-IV GVHD; this correlation, however, was no longer found on days 19 and 26. We conclude that the pretransplant assessment of NK and ADCC activities of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells of donors or recipients, or of those in marrow grafts, does not predict the occurrence of GVHD. An early rise in NK (K562) activity post BMT, however, appears to be correlated with the development of GVHD.