Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology
. 1996 Jan;3(1):105–108. doi: 10.1128/cdli.3.1.105-108.1996

Natural killer cell cytotoxicity in elderly humans after influenza immunization.

J Kutza 1, P Gross 1, D Kaye 1, D M Murasko 1
PMCID: PMC170256  PMID: 8770513

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that human natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity can be augmented by either in vitro stimulation with influenza virus antigens or in vivo administration of killed influenza vaccine. The study demonstrating the latter conclusion reported an increase in NK cytotoxicity lasting for 4 weeks postvaccination in young subjects. We initiated our study to determine if a similar increase in NK activity was observed in an elderly population after immunization with the 1992-1993 influenza vaccine. NK activity of 34 elderly (mean age, 77.3 years) was determined at 3 time points: prevaccination, 4 to 6 weeks postvaccination, and 5 to 6 months after vaccination. In contrast to the results of the previous study, the NK cytotoxicity of our elderly subjects was not augmented by the influenza vaccine at any time tested. We also determined the number of CD56+ cells in whole-blood samples at each of the time points and found that there is no change in NK cell number after influenza vaccination.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (170.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arora D. J., Justewicz D. M. Human influenza viral neuraminidases augment cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. Nat Immun Cell Growth Regul. 1988;7(2):87–94. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Biron C. A., Byron K. S., Sullivan J. L. Severe herpesvirus infections in an adolescent without natural killer cells. N Engl J Med. 1989 Jun 29;320(26):1731–1735. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198906293202605. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Biron C. A., Welsh R. M. Blastogenesis of natural killer cells during viral infection in vivo. J Immunol. 1982 Dec;129(6):2788–2795. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brunner K. T., Mauel J., Cerottini J. C., Chapuis B. Quantitative assay of the lytic action of immune lymphoid cells on 51-Cr-labelled allogeneic target cells in vitro; inhibition by isoantibody and by drugs. Immunology. 1968 Feb;14(2):181–196. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bukowski J. F., Woda B. A., Habu S., Okumura K., Welsh R. M. Natural killer cell depletion enhances virus synthesis and virus-induced hepatitis in vivo. J Immunol. 1983 Sep;131(3):1531–1538. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Ennis F. A., Meager A., Beare A. S., Qi Y. H., Riley D., Schwarz G., Schild G. C., Rook A. H. Interferon induction and increased natural killer-cell activity in influenza infections in man. Lancet. 1981 Oct 24;2(8252):891–893. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(81)91390-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Garcia-Peñarrubia P., Koster F. T., Kelley R. O., McDowell T. D., Bankhurst A. D. Antibacterial activity of human natural killer cells. J Exp Med. 1989 Jan 1;169(1):99–113. doi: 10.1084/jem.169.1.99. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gross P. A., Weksler M. E., Quinnan G. V., Jr, Douglas R. G., Jr, Gaerlan P. F., Denning C. R. Immunization of elderly people with two doses of influenza vaccine. J Clin Microbiol. 1987 Sep;25(9):1763–1765. doi: 10.1128/jcm.25.9.1763-1765.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Herberman R. B., Ortaldo J. R. Natural killer cells: their roles in defenses against disease. Science. 1981 Oct 2;214(4516):24–30. doi: 10.1126/science.7025208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Herrmann F., Schmidt R. E., Ritz J., Griffin J. D. In vitro regulation of human hematopoiesis by natural killer cells: analysis at a clonal level. Blood. 1987 Jan;69(1):246–254. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Krishnaraj R., Blandford G. Age-associated alterations in human natural killer cells. 1. Increased activity as per conventional and kinetic analysis. Clin Immunol Immunopathol. 1987 Nov;45(2):268–285. doi: 10.1016/0090-1229(87)90042-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kutza J., Kaye D., Murasko D. M. Basal natural killer cell activity of young versus elderly humans. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1995 May;50(3):B110–B116. doi: 10.1093/gerona/50a.3.b110. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kutza J., Murasko D. M. Effects of aging on natural killer cell activity and activation by interleukin-2 and IFN-alpha. Cell Immunol. 1994 Apr 15;155(1):195–204. doi: 10.1006/cimm.1994.1112. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lozzio C. B., Lozzio B. B. Human chronic myelogenous leukemia cell-line with positive Philadelphia chromosome. Blood. 1975 Mar;45(3):321–334. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rees R. C., Dalton B. J., Young J. F., Hanna N., Poste G. Augmentation of human natural killer cell activity by influenza virus antigens produced in Escherichia coli. J Biol Response Mod. 1987 Feb;6(1):69–87. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Schapiro J. M., Segev Y., Rannon L., Alkan M., Rager-Zisman B. Natural killer (NK) cell response after vaccination of volunteers with killed influenza vaccine. J Med Virol. 1990 Mar;30(3):196–200. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890300310. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Stitz L., Althage A., Hengartner H., Zinkernagel R. Natural killer cells vs cytotoxic T cells in the peripheral blood of virus-infected mice. J Immunol. 1985 Jan;134(1):598–602. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Targan S., Britvan L., Kendal R., Vimadalal S., Soll A. Isolation of spontaneous and interferon inducible natural killer like cells from human colonic mucosa: lysis of lymphoid and autologous epithelial target cells. Clin Exp Immunol. 1983 Oct;54(1):14–22. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Trinchieri G. Biology of natural killer cells. Adv Immunol. 1989;47:187–376. doi: 10.1016/S0065-2776(08)60664-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Welsh R. M. Regulation of virus infections by natural killer cells. A review. Nat Immun Cell Growth Regul. 1986;5(4):169–199. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES