Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Devlin, L A
• Haughton, D J
• Crockard, A D
• Edgar, J D M

Titel

Natural killer cell cytotoxicity in patients with recurrent herpes infections: diagnostic utility of a flow cytometric assay

Ist Teil von

• Journal of clinical pathology, 2010-03, Vol.63 (3), p.244-248

Ort / Verlag

London: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Association of Clinical Pathologists

Erscheinungsjahr

2010

Quelle

BMJ Journals Archiv - DFG Nationallizenzen

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• BackgroundPrimary immune deficiencies of natural killer (NK) cells have been described in patients with a susceptibility to herpes infections.AimsTo assess the diagnostic utility of measurement of NK cytotoxicity in patients with recurrent oral herpes infections.MethodsA retrospective audit was carried out on results obtained over an 18-month period, from 28 NK cell cytotoxicity assays (24 patients; all with a history of recurrent oral herpes infections), and 24 control samples (three healthy donors). Percentage specific cytotoxicity (PSC) was determined by measurement of the percentage of K562 target cells lysed by NK cells after incubation, using the NK TEST. Comparison of PSC was made with reference ranges provided.ResultsNo patient with absent NK/NKT cells or NK cell cytotoxicity was identified (95% CI 0 to 14.8%). Two patients had persistently low PSC. Two patients with reduced PSC showed PSC within the normal reference range on repeat testing. Patient and control samples were seen both above and below the reference ranges. A relationship was expected between NK cell percentage and PSC; however this correlation was not significant (rs=0.29, p=0.18, 95% CI −0.14 to 0.63).ConclusionsA deficiency of NK cell cytotoxicity has not been identified in this cohort. An apparent reduction in cytotoxicity may be due to normal interpersonal and intersample variability in NK cytotoxicity. Without reference ranges established from a large population of control samples to account for this, a reduction in PSC is difficult to define. Further studies are required to identify if a correlation exists between the percentage of NK cells and PSC.