Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1979 Sep 19;150(3):471–481. doi: 10.1084/jem.150.3.471

Target-effector interaction in the human and murine natural killer system: specificity and xenogeneic reactivity of the solubilized natural killer-target structure complex and its loss in a somatic cell hybrid

PMCID: PMC2185657  PMID: 479761

Abstract

Preincubation of natural killer (NK) cells with electrophoresis purified proteins from a variety of NK-sensitive murine and human tumor cells specifically prevented subsequent binding to the intact, homologous target cell. The NK-target structures (NK-TS) consisted of some or all of four characteristic molecular species, tentatively assigned molecular weights of 140K, 160K, 190K, and 240K (+/-10K) based on electrophoretic mobility in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. When these NK-TS molecules were compared in cross-inhibition assays, the large 240K molecule most often carried the unique NK specificity, whereas the smaller 140K molecules cross-reacted between YAC, 136-6 and X-63 in the mouse and between Molt-4 and K562 in the human. Mouse NK cells recognised a different spectrum of NK-TS molecules than human NK cells. The control of NK-TS expression was partially revealed in a cloned, somatic cell hybrid bwtween an NK sensitive (YAC-IR) and insensitive (A9HT) cell line. The hybrid did not express NK-TS and did not bind to NK cells which is in accordance with negative NK cytolytic results previously reported. Although unique specificities are carried by some of the multiple NK-TS protein molecules, cross-reactions were widespread. These observations taken together suggest that the NK cell is polyspecific and has some heterogeneity in the recognition structure although much less than would be expected of an antibody-combining site.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (674.7 KB).

Selected References

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

  1. Fenyö E. M., Klein E., Klein G., Swiech K. Selection of an immunoresistant Moloney lymphoma subline with decreased concentration of tumor-specific surface antigens. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1968 Jan;40(1):69–89. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Fenyö E. M., Klein G. Independence of Moloney virus-induced cell-surface antigen and membrane-associated virion antigens in immunoselected lymphoma sublines. Nature. 1976 Mar 25;260(5549):355–357. doi: 10.1038/260355a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hansson M., Kiessling R., Andersson B., Kärre K., Roder J. NK cell-sensitive T-cell subpopulation in thymus: inverse correlation to host NK activity. Nature. 1979 Mar 8;278(5700):174–176. doi: 10.1038/278174a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Herberman R. B., Holden H. T. Natural cell-mediated immunity. Adv Cancer Res. 1978;27:305–377. doi: 10.1016/s0065-230x(08)60936-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Herberman R. B., Nunn M. E., Lavrin D. H. Natural cytotoxic reactivity of mouse lymphoid cells against syngeneic acid allogeneic tumors. I. Distribution of reactivity and specificity. Int J Cancer. 1975 Aug 15;16(2):216–229. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910160204. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kiessling R., Klein E., Wigzell H. "Natural" killer cells in the mouse. I. Cytotoxic cells with specificity for mouse Moloney leukemia cells. Specificity and distribution according to genotype. Eur J Immunol. 1975 Feb;5(2):112–117. doi: 10.1002/eji.1830050208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Roder J. C., Kiessling R., Biberfeld P., Andersson B. Target-effector interaction in the natural killer (NK) cell system. II. The isolation of NK cells and studies on the mechanism of killing. J Immunol. 1978 Dec;121(6):2509–2517. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Roder J. C., Kiessling R. Target--effector interaction in the natural killer cell system. I. Covariance and genetic control of cytolytic and target-cell-binding subpopulations in the mouse. Scand J Immunol. 1978;8(2):135–144. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1978.tb00505.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Roder J. C., Rosén A., Fenyö E. M., Troy F. A. Target-effector interaction in the natural killer cell system: isolation of target structures. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Mar;76(3):1405–1409. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.3.1405. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Siegert W., Fenyö E. M., Klein G. Separation of the Moloney leukemia virus-determined cell surface antigen (MCSA) from known virion proteins associated with the cell membrane. Int J Cancer. 1977 Jul 15;20(1):75–82. doi: 10.1002/ijc.2910200113. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Targan S., Jondal M. Monolayer immune complex (MIC) fractionation of Fc receptor bearing human spontaneous killer cells. J Immunol Methods. 1978;22(1-2):123–129. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(78)90064-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Troy F. A., Fenyö E. M., Klein G. Moloney leukemia virus-induced cell surface antigen: detection and characterization in sodium dodecyl sulfate gels. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5270–5274. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5270. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Wiener F., Klein G., Harris H. The analysis of malignancy by cell fusion. IV. Hybrid between tumour cells and a malignant L cell derivative. J Cell Sci. 1973 Jan;12(1):253–261. doi: 10.1242/jcs.12.1.253. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES