TY - JOUR
T1 - Cimetidine modulates natural killer cell function of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia
AU - Allen, John I.
AU - Syropoulos, Heidi J.
AU - Grant, Barbara
AU - Eagon, J. Christopher
AU - Kay, Neil E.
PY - 1987/4
Y1 - 1987/4
N2 - Peripheral blood natural killer (NK) activity in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is frequently low or absent. Because cimetidine (a histamine-2 antagonist) has been shown to alter human lymphocyte function in vitro, we decided to study cimetidine's effect on peripheral blood NK activity of patients with B-CLL and controls. We administered cimetidine orally (1.2 gm per day) to seven patients with B-CLL and 12 controls for up to 28 days. Peripheral blood NK activity of patients with B-CLL rose from a pretreatment level of 0.7 ± 0.5 (mean ± SEM) lytic units/106 cells (LU) to 8.7 ± 2.4 LU (P < 0.05) at day 28. Peripheral blood NK activity of controls decreased after 14 days of cimetidine treatment but returned to pretreatment levels by day 28. When peripheral blood cells from controls were exposed to cimetidine during in vitro incubation (10 μg/ml), mean NK activity was increased at 48 hours (54% ± 22% increase over controls, n = 5, P < 0.05). Single cell cytotoxicity assays revealed increased killing of target cells (but not effector-target conjugation) with cimetidine-exposed effector cells. These data suggest that cimetidine may be useful to augment peripheral blood NK activity for patients with B-CLL.
AB - Peripheral blood natural killer (NK) activity in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is frequently low or absent. Because cimetidine (a histamine-2 antagonist) has been shown to alter human lymphocyte function in vitro, we decided to study cimetidine's effect on peripheral blood NK activity of patients with B-CLL and controls. We administered cimetidine orally (1.2 gm per day) to seven patients with B-CLL and 12 controls for up to 28 days. Peripheral blood NK activity of patients with B-CLL rose from a pretreatment level of 0.7 ± 0.5 (mean ± SEM) lytic units/106 cells (LU) to 8.7 ± 2.4 LU (P < 0.05) at day 28. Peripheral blood NK activity of controls decreased after 14 days of cimetidine treatment but returned to pretreatment levels by day 28. When peripheral blood cells from controls were exposed to cimetidine during in vitro incubation (10 μg/ml), mean NK activity was increased at 48 hours (54% ± 22% increase over controls, n = 5, P < 0.05). Single cell cytotoxicity assays revealed increased killing of target cells (but not effector-target conjugation) with cimetidine-exposed effector cells. These data suggest that cimetidine may be useful to augment peripheral blood NK activity for patients with B-CLL.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=45949116839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 3493314
AN - SCOPUS:45949116839
SN - 0022-2143
VL - 109
SP - 389
EP - 395
JO - The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine
JF - The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine
IS - 4
ER -