The effect of different nutritional states on cell-mediated cytotoxicity

We have studied the effect of acute short-term starvation (in 9 patients) and of prolonged caloric deprivation (in 10 patients with anorexia nervosa), on cell-mediated cytotoxicity (CMC). CMC became severely depressed after six days on a very low caloric diet (1.2 +/- 1.4 vs. 7.0 +/- 2.9 lytic units/10(6) cells; P less than 0.01). CMC was also low in our patients with anorexia nervosa compared to a matched control group (3.3 +/- 1.7 vs. 10.0 +/- 3.0 lytic units/10(6) cells; P less than 0.01) and increased in most of the patients studied (five cases) after the first 3-4 weeks of refeeding in correlation with weight gain. Dietary deprivation may lead to a significant impairment in cell-mediated cytotoxicity, which appears to be reversible after refeeding.