Lactoferrin-inducible monocyte cytotoxicity for K562 cells and decay of natural killer lymphocyte cytotoxicity

Abstract

Monocyte-enriched and lymphocyte-enriched fractions of peripheral blood from three healthy volunteers were obtained by percoll density gradient centrifugation. The cytotoxic activity of each fraction against 51Cr-labelled K562 cells was quantified in a 2-h assay using freshly isolated cells of each fraction and cells of each fraction which had been incubated with and without lactoferrin in complete medium for 18 h before performing the assay. We have thereby shown that cytotoxicity was not demonstrable in the lymphocyte fraction (containing 7.3 +/- 2% large granular lymphocytes) after 18 h in medium, whereas the cytotoxicity of the monocyte fraction (containing 3 +/- 0.4% large granular lymphocytes) was still significantly increased (P less than or equal to 0.01) and that lactoferrin had no effect on lymphocyte fraction cytotoxicity while producing an 11-fold increase in the cytotoxicity of the monocyte fraction. It is therefore possible to perform a relatively simple test of monocyte cytotoxicity using lactoferrin as a stimulant in a 2-h 51Cr-labelled K562 assay system by allowing 18 h to elapse for lymphocyte natural killer cytotoxicity to decay.

Antimicrobial and immunoregulatory functions of lactoferrin and its potential therapeutic application

“…As far as cytotoxic activities are concerned, contrasting effects of human LF on lymphocyte-and monocyte-mediated cytotoxic activity and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity have been reported. 113,114 Nishiya and Horwitz 113 reported that hLF increased cytotoxic activity against the K562 cell line mediated by monocytes, but it had no effect on lymphocyte-mediated activity. The authors drew such a conclusion from the finding that LF markedly enhanced adherent cell cytotoxic activity, whereas no effect was seen on non-adherent cells at all LF concentrations tested.…”

Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis From the Perspective of Traditional Persian Medicine

“…48 Lactoferrin in whey is able to activate natural killer cells and neutrophils. [53][54][55][56] It has antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. 57,58 a-Lactalbumin in whey can diminish oxidative stress by chelating heavy metals.…”

Healthy Multifunctional Spectra of Milk Glycoproteins and Their Fragments – a Review Article

“…Studies on LF have demonstrated its ability to activate natural killer (NK) cells and neutrophils, induce colonystimulating factor activity, and enhance macrophage cytotoxicity [Nishiya & Horwitz, 1982;Sawatzki & Rich, 1989;Gahr et al, 1991;McCormick et al, 1991;Andres & Fierro, 2010]. LF also appears to have antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.…”