Lymphokine-activated killer cell functions in patients with leukemic B-lymphoproliferative diseases

Nine patients with leukemic B-lymphoproliferative diseases (B-LPD) were evaluated for development of in vitro recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2)-activated killer (LAK) cells. B-cell cultures were established from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) containing 63% +/- 29% malignant cells. Short-term cultures were tested after 5-day activation with 500 U rIL-2/mL. Long-term cultures were maintained for 4 to 6 weeks by weekly addition of 500 U rIL-2 and autologous irradiated feeder cells. In the first week, the cells decreased considerably in the long-term cultures but thereafter cells proliferated (mainly T cells) on the average 300-fold (range 30- to 1,000-fold). In the short-term cultures, there was a 36% reduction of malignant B cells. In long-term cultures, B cells were reduced from 63% to 8%; three cultures still contained greater than 15% B cells. The CD16-positive cell percentage was comparable in both types of cultures and ranged from 2% to 17%. Effector cells lysing the natural killer (NK)-sensitive cell line K562 could be induced in all patients. Except in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and high malignant cell numbers, NK activity was already restored after 5 days. Optimal NK activity was obtained after 1.5 to 2.5 weeks. LAK cells killing NK-resistant lymphoma cell lines showed optimal activity after 2 to 3 weeks of culture. However, LAK cells killing greater than 10% of autologous malignant cells were obtained in only one third of the patients. The discrepancy between strong cytolytic activity against the NK-sensitive (K562) target cells obtained in all patients and the cytotoxic activity against NK-resistant cell lines contrasts with the poor development of LAK cells against autologous tumor cells. This discrepancy does not appear to be explained by soluble inhibitory factors released during the tumor cultures, as allogeneic LAK cells were not inhibited by supernatants from patients' cultures. Further investigations are warranted to reveal cell-mediated inhibition by tumor cells or suppressor cells.