The effect of immunopharmacological agents on mouse natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity and on its augmentation by poly I:C.

Treatment of young mice with lethal X-irradiation (900 R), cyclophosphamide, or hydrocortisone significantly depressed their spontaneous NK activity. The same treatments, however, did not inhibit the augmentation of NK function by poly I:C, suggesting the existence of a treatment resistant pre-NK cell. Both the spontaneous activity and its augmentation were readily inhibited by macrophage-toxic agents such as silica and carrageenan in vivo. Since the NK cells themselves were not macrophages, as shown by the inability of silica or carrageenan to block in vitro cytolysis of target cells, we postulated that macrophages were required to maintain NK activity in vivo and that they were essential accessory cells in the augmentation. The induction of interferon by poly I:C was also inhibited by silica and carrageenan. The augmentation of NK activity induced by poly I:C was consistently accompanied by the rise in serum IF levels of the treated mice, and its inhibition by the macrophage-toxic agents was followed by decreased production of interferon. These observations support our hypothesis that macrophages, in response to poly I:C, produced interferon which in turn activated NK cells to become cytolytic.