Lymphokine-activated killer cytotoxicity and lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with acute leukemia.

In this report we investigated lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cytotoxicity and lymphocyte subpopulations of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with acute leukemia in complete remission after chemotherapy or autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) and of normal donors. A positive linear correlation was found between the percentage of spontaneous LAK activity and that of lymphocyte subpopulations with phenotypes CD56+, CD3-CD8+ CD3-CD56+ and CD3-CD57+ in both groups of patients. A 3-day culture with IL-2 produced an up-regulation in the expression of the CD25, CD69, and HLA-DR markers proportional to the LAK cytotoxicity levels generated in the culture. Determination of percentages of spontaneous and in vitro generated LAK activity as well as of the above mentioned phenotypic markers contribute to the analysis of the process of LAK activation in patients with acute leukemia and may also be useful in those cases in which immunotherapy with IL-2 and/or LAK cells is anticipated.