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 non-allergic males. NKCA was determined by using 61Cr 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.