Certain populations of killer whales (Orcinus orca) have been extensively studied over the past 30 years, including populations that use Puget Sound, WA, the inside waters of British Columbia, Southeastern Alaska and Kenai Fjords/Prince William Sound, Alaska. Two eco-types of killer whales, 'transient' and 'resident', occur in all of these regions. These eco-types are genetically distinct and d...

background: natural killer (nk) cells are the effector cells of innate immunity that respond to infection and tumor. interactions between killer cell immunoglobulin like receptors (kir) and human leukocyte antigen (hla) class i molecules regulate nk cells responses to eliminate infected and transformed cells. objective: to investigate the impact of kir genes, hla ligand genes, and kir-hla combi...

BACKGROUND The number of type 2 helper CD4+ T cells is increased in the airways of persons with asthma. Whether the majority of these cells are class II major-histocompatibility-complex-restricted cells or are among the recently identified CD1d-restricted invariant natural killer T cells is a matter of controversy. We studied the frequency of invariant natural killer T cells in the airways of s...

BACKGROUND Cytokine-induced killer cells are ex vivo-expanded cells with potent antitumor activity. The infusion of cytokine-induced killer cells in patients with acute myeloid leukemia relapsing after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant is well tolerated, but limited clinical responses have been observed. To improve their effector functions against acute myeloid leukemia, we genetica...

With strictly selected controls natural killer cell activity was evaluated in 10 untreated patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Natural killer levels of the patients were significantly lower than those of the age- and sex-matched normal controls. Natural killer levels, however, did not correlate with disease activity.

analysis of  receptor–ligand  interactions  in  the  context  of  diseases  necessitates  to understand how hla–kir genotypes function in diseases. although cd56+  lymphocytes are derived from multiple lineages, they share a functional association with immunosurviellance and antimicrobial responses. the present study aimed to determine whether kir phenotype in cd56 lymphocytes and corresponding...

the cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells is usually tested by radioactive assay csi cr release assay), which detects the release of cytoplasmic contents after plasma membrane disintegration of dying cells. in contrast to this indirect evaluation of cytotoxicity, the assessment of cell damage by flow cytometry aims to provide a more exact characterization of the death pathway via detection...