Conjugation between cloned human NK cells (H7.8) and K562/MOLT4 tumor cell systems: Saturability, binding parameters, and population distribution of conjugates

Effector-target conjugation between cloned NK(H7.8)-K562 and NK(H7.8)-MOLT4 tumor cells has been studied from binding isotherms. Nonlinear and linear regression methods were used to calculate the maximum effector and target conjugate frequencies as well as the dissociation constant of the conjugates formed. The results obtained show there is an enhancement of the effector-target saturability and effector-target affinity in comparison with the values previously observed for polyclonal NK effector cells. Population distributions revealed that different types of conjugates were formed as the effector-to-target ratio was changed in the NK(H7.8)-K562 and NK(H7.8)-MOLT4 tumor cells. In both cases conjugates where one effector cell was bound to several target cells and conjugates with one target cell bound to several effector cells were found. At all values of R the prevailing conjugates were those with one effector cell bound to one target cell.