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. 2013 Oct 18;8(10):e76928. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076928

Figure 2. Ex vivo NK cell functionality in donors and melanoma patients.

Figure 2

Patients were stratified (left panels) or not (right panels) according to their clinical stage. Freshly isolated PBMC were stimulated with K562 (E/T ratio 10/1 for 4 hours) in absence of cytokine and gated CD3−CD56+ NK cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. (A) Percentages of NK cell degranulation and (B) IFNγ production were assessed. On left panels, spontaneous (red) and K562-activated (blue) values are indicated. On right panels, the effective NK cell activation was reported calculated as K562-induced minus spontaneous. Comparisons between spontaneous (ctrl) and K562 induced activation of NK cells were analyzed with the paired t-test (p values≤0.05 noted as * and p<0.01 as **). Comparison of NK function between donors and patients (right panels) using the non parametric Mann-Withney test (n.s = not significant).