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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Expansion, Purification, and Functional Assessment of Human Peripheral Blood NK Cells
Published on: February 3, 2011
An NK-like cell limits the adoptive response from "pre-progenitor" B cells
Evidence is presented that a dividing, Thy 1 . 2 positive and NK 1 . 2 positive cell with a suppressive effect on adoptive responses is present in the spleens of normal and athymic mice, and that its function may be enhanced by non-specific antigenic stimulation. NK cells may thus exert a controlling function on the proliferation and differentiation of B cells. The main experimental observation is that under certain assay conditions incubation of spleen cells with 3H-TdR in order to kill dividing, non-specifically activated 'pre-progenitor' B cells may actually give a marked increase rather than a decrease in a subsequent hapten-specific primary adoptive response. An activated 'suppressor' population was proposed as the reason for this effect. This anomalous effect may be avoided and the cycle state of the B cells assessed by prior elimination of cells bearing Thy 1 antigen, together with the use of a more reliable hydroxyurea incubation to kill dividing B cells.
Evidence is presented that a dividing, Thy 1 . 2 positive and NK 1 . 2 positive cell with a suppressive effect on adoptive responses is present in the spleens of normal and athymic mice, and that its function may be enhanced by non-specific antigenic stimulation. NK cells may thus exert a controlling function on the proliferation and differentiation of B cells. The main experimental observation is that under certain assay conditions incubation of spleen cells with 3H-TdR in order to kill dividing, non-specifically activated 'pre-progenitor' B cells may actually give a marked increase rather than a decrease in a subsequent hapten-specific primary adoptive response. An activated 'suppressor' population was proposed as the reason for this effect. This anomalous effect may be avoided and the cycle state of the B cells assessed by prior elimination of cells bearing Thy 1 antigen, together with the use of a more reliable hydroxyurea incubation to kill dividing B cells.
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