Augmentation of mouse natural killer cell activity by a streptococcal preparation, OK-432.

Streptococcal immunopotentiator OK-432 (NSC-B116209) augmented the natural killer (NK) cell activity of peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) in inbred C57BL/6 mice given ip injections of 0.1 mg OK-432 per mouse. The cytotoxic activity of PEC increased as early as 1 day after inoculation, reached its peak on day 3, and gradually declined thereafter, YAC-1, K562, and MOLT-4 target cells were more sensitive to PEC than were EL 4 and P815 target cells. The elimination of adherent cells by a nylon wool column enriched the proportion of cytotoxic cells among PEC. Nylon wool column-passed PEC were resistant to treatment with anti-Thy 1.2 antibody plus complement and sensitive to anti-asialo GM1 serum plus complement. Because 1:40-diluted rabbit antiserum against glycosphingolipid asialo GM1 is capable of eliminating mouse NK cell activity and is not cytotoxic to killer T-cells, the above results strongly suggest that OK-432 augments the NK cell activity in mice.