Figure 3.

Effect of lenalidomide on NK cell proliferation. (a) Flow cytometric profile of NK cells (gated as CD3⁻CD56⁺) before and after stimulation with 1  μM lenalidomide for 14 days. One representative CLL patient and one healthy donor are shown. The numbers represent the percentage of NK cells. (b) The figure shows the compilation of the results obtained from CLL patients (n = 17) and donors (n = 10). Results are expressed as the fold induction of the percentage of NK cells of lenalidomide-treated cells relative to the vehicle-treated control (**P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). (c) PBMCs labeled with CFSE were cultured with 1  μM lenalidomide or DMSO for 14 days and CFSE expression was examined in NK cells (CD3⁻CD56⁺) by flow cytometry. One representative CLL patient and one healthy donor are shown. (d) The figure shows the compilation of the results obtained from CLL patients (n = 17) and healthy donors (n = 10). Results are expressed as the fold induction of the percentage of proliferative NK cells of lenalidomide-treated cells relative to the vehicle-treated control (**P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). (e) The figure shows the percentage of the two main subsets of NK cells (CD56^dim⁡ and CD56^brigth) after the treatment with 1 μM lenalidomide or DMSO for 14 days. (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01, Mann-Whitney U test).