feet of zinc therapy on natural killer cell activity in inflammatory bo wel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease is usually accompanied by malabsorption and increased loss of nutrients and trace elements which may result in several deficiencies in the patients. For example, in up to 70% of inflammatory bowel disease patients subnormal concentrations of the trace element zinc have been It is known that zinc plays a role in the development and maintenance of the cellular immune response in man.4 Natural killer cells represent about 10 % of circulating blood lymphocytes in humans. They are cytotoxic effector cells that are capable of spontaneously killing tumour and virus-infected cells.5 Morphologically, natural killer cells are large granular lymphocytes that have high affinity Fc-receptors. The distinguishing feature of natural killer cells is that their cytolytic activity is not restricted by, or dependent on, expression of the major histocompatibility complex on the target cells. Although at this time the basis for target cell recognition is unknown, natural killer cells are capable of distinguishing and sparing most normal tissue cells. The fact that a decreased natural killer cell activity is often found