NATURAL-KILLER-CELL ACTIVITY IN CELIAC-DISEASE - EFFECT OF IN-VITRO TREATMENT ON EFFECTOR LYMPHOCYTES AND OR TARGET LYMPHOBLASTOID, MYELOIDAND EPITHELIAL-CELL LINES WITH GLIADIN/

To analyze the possible involvement of natural killer (NK) cell activi ty in the pathogenetic mechanism of coeliac disease (CD) we measured t he spontaneous cytotoxic cell activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PMNC) from patients with CD and from healthy donors. No signif icant differences were found between the NK cell activity of PMNC from healthy donors and from patients with CD using a standard Cr-51 relea se assay. However, a 30-min treatment of PMNC with gliadin inhibited N K cell activity in patients with CD. On the other hand, a 1-d incubati on with gliadin induced cytotoxic cell activity of PMNC against the NK -resistant target cells such as the epithelial HT-29 and the lymphobla stoid RNJI cell lines, suggesting that activation of PMNC by cultivati on with gliadin can occur.