Natural killing of tumor cells by human peripheral blood cells. Suppression of killing in vitro by tumor-promoting phorbol diesters.

Tumor-promoting phorbol diesters were shown to suppress natural killing in vitro by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The inhibitory effect of different phorbol diesters and their analogues correlated with their potency as tumor promoters, the most effective agent being 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Both peripheral blood cells and targets specifically bound TPA, and natural killing could be inhibited by pretreatment of either cell population with TPA, though this was less effective than direct addition of TPA to the assay. Cells that had been pretreated with TPA released TPA and metabolites of tPA during subsequent incubation in fresh medium. This release of tPA was evidently responsible for the inhibition of natural killing by pretreated target cells; in experiments where labeled and unlabeled target cells were mixed, pretreatment of unlabeled targets with TPA inhibited killing of labeled targets. Suppression of natural killing by TPA was greatly reduced when adherent cells were removed from the peripheral blood cells, suggesting that monocytes mediate suppression. Inhibition of natural killing by TPA provides a model for examining the regulation of natural killing. Suppression of natural killing by phorbol diesters may contribute to their activity as tumor promoters.