Natural killer and lymphokine-activated killer activity in HLA-B8,DR3-positive subjects.

Abstract The haplotype HLA-B8,DR3 is over-represented in several autoimmune diseases, implying that genes predisposing people to these disorders are linked to this haplotype. In these diseases, various dysfunctions reflecting an impairment of the immune system have been found. Several reports indicate also that in HLA-B8,DR3-positive healthy subjects similar disorders may be demonstrated. In the present work, we have evaluated NK and LAK activity in these subjects. The study has been performed on monocyte-depleted peripheral blood MNCs by using the K-562 cell line as a target for NK activity and the HL-60 cell line for as a target LAK activity. LAK cells were obtained by incubating MNCs for…