Association of natural killer cell activity with serum IgE

Association of natural killer (NK) cell activity (NKCA) or NK cell subsets with total IgE or antigen-specific IgE in serum were studied among 66 healthy nonallergic males. NKCA was determined by using Cr-61 release assay and NK subsets were counted usings surface antigens (CD16, CD57) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. NKCA was associated mainly with the frequency of a CD16(+),CD57(-) subset. When the subjects were classified into three groups according to total IgE values in serum (grade 0: IgE <10 IU/ml; grade 1: IgE 10-400 IU/ml; grade 2: IgE>400 IU/ml), one-way analysis of variance of NKCA showed that the grades of total IgE were significantly associated with increasing NKCA. In addition, NKCA in the grade 0 group was significantly lower than that in the grade 2 group and than a mixture of grade 1 group and grade 2 group. A similar finding was not observed between NKCA and RAST for specific IgE against mites. Therefore, NKCA may be related to total IgE level in serum.