Investigation on mechanism of radiation effect of NK cells

Some related factors and mechanism of radiation effect on NK cells were investigated. A gamma-ray dose of 16 Gy decreased the splenic NK activity of mice, the secretion of natural killer cytotoxic factors (NKCF), the amount of azurophilic granules and the activity of acid phosphoesterase in NK cells, while pretreatment of mice or effector cells with IL-2 could effectively prevent the above-mentioned decreases, suggesting the close relationship of all these factors to the activity and radiation effect of NK cells. Decrease in endogenous splenic IL-2 production after irradiation was also observed, but it did not accord with the change in NK activity. Hence, IL-2 might be one of the important regulating factors, rather than only an determining factor of NK activity and its radiation effect