Natural killer sensitivity of four Bomirski melanoma variants.

The sensitivity of four hamster melanoma variant cells to natural killer (NK) cell lysis mediated by hamster blood and spleen mononuclear cells is examined. The melanoma variants differed in their differentiation level, growth rate, and frequency and localization of metastases. The cells of the melanoma variants were found to differ in their sensitivity to NK cell mediated lysis. A consistent relationship between high sensitivity to lysis and such tumor characteristics as low differentiation level, slow growth rate, low metastatic potential was not observed.