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. 2017 Apr 13;8:432. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00432

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Copyright © 2017 Morgan and Davis.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Glucocorticoids can enhance the proliferation of primary human NK (pNK) cells depending on the cytokine environment. (A–I) pNK cells and (J–K) freshly isolated pNK cells were first labeled with CFSE (0.5 µM) and then treated with DMSO, as a vehicle control, or 100 nM dexamethasone (Dex) for 1 h. pNK cells were then stimulated with either (A) interleukin-12 (IL-12) (10 ng/ml), (B) interleukin-18 (IL-18) (100 ng/ml), (C,J) IL-2 (200 U/ml), (D) interleukin-15 (IL-15) (5 ng/ml), (E) IL-12 + IL-15, (F) IL-12 + IL-18, (G) IL-12 + IL-15 + IL-18, or (H,K) IL-2 + IL-12, for 5 days. Proliferation was assessed by flow cytometry. Representative histograms (gated on live CD56⁺ pNK cells) for (A) six, (B) three, (C,D) six, (E) three, (F) four, (G) four, (H) six, or (J,K) three independent experiments are shown. (I) Graph (mean ± SD) depicts the quantification of geometric mean fluorescence intensity (gMFI) for (A–H), normalized to IL-12 vehicle. (L) Graph (mean ± SD) depicts the quantification of gMFI for (J,K), normalized to cells treated with IL-2/vehicle control. Samples are compared by unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.005; ****p < 0.0001; ns, not significant). T0 denotes initial CFSE stain.

Glucocorticoids can enhance the proliferation of primary human NK (pNK) cells depending on the cytokine environment. (A–I) pNK cells and (J–K) freshly isolated pNK cells were first labeled with CFSE (0.5 µM) and then treated with DMSO, as a vehicle control, or 100 nM dexamethasone (Dex) for 1 h. pNK cells were then stimulated with either (A) interleukin-12 (IL-12) (10 ng/ml), (B) interleukin-18 (IL-18) (100 ng/ml), (C,J) IL-2 (200 U/ml), (D) interleukin-15 (IL-15) (5 ng/ml), (E) IL-12 + IL-15, (F) IL-12 + IL-18, (G) IL-12 + IL-15 + IL-18, or (H,K) IL-2 + IL-12, for 5 days. Proliferation was assessed by flow cytometry. Representative histograms (gated on live CD56⁺ pNK cells) for (A) six, (B) three, (C,D) six, (E) three, (F) four, (G) four, (H) six, or (J,K) three independent experiments are shown. (I) Graph (mean ± SD) depicts the quantification of geometric mean fluorescence intensity (gMFI) for (A–H), normalized to IL-12 vehicle. (L) Graph (mean ± SD) depicts the quantification of gMFI for (J,K), normalized to cells treated with IL-2/vehicle control. Samples are compared by unpaired, two-tailed Student’s t-test (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.005; ****p < 0.0001; ns, not significant). T0 denotes initial CFSE stain.