Interferon enhanced natural killer function in Hodgkin's disease

Natural killer (NK) cell activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 19 untreated patients with active Hodgkin's disease and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals was evaluated using classical K 562 cells as targets in a 4-h assay. A significant decrease was demonstrated in the patients (P less than 0.01) in accordance with previous data from the literature. Preincubation of effector cells with alpha leucocyte recombinant interferon (500 units/10(6) cells/ml) led to a significant increase in NK function in the patients (P less than 0.001). However, 4 patients still remained below the normal range and some patients were poor responders to interferon indicating that the mechanisms of depressed NK cell activity associated with Hodgkin's disease could not be overcome by interferon at least in some patients.