NATURAL-KILLER-CELL PROLIFERATION AND RENAL-DISEASE - A FUNCTIONAL AND PHENOTYPIC STUDY

We describe a 57-year-old woman who presented with a constitutional sy ndrome, glomerulonephritis, and lymphocytosis, The phenotypic study, u sing flow cytometry, showed an expansion of natural killer (NK) cells (CD2+, CD3-, CD16+, CD56+, and CD7+), We performed a functional study of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and of purified CD16+ ce lls (NK cells) and CD3+ cells (normal T cells), The expanded NK cell p opulation, CD16+, did not proliferate with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) or anti-CD3 but showed a dose-dependent proliferation with recombinant i nterleukin-2 (rIL-2) and also proliferated with phorbol dibutyrate, Th is population showed very strong NK and lymphokine-activated killer ce ll (LAK) activities, The patient's symptoms resolved spontaneously wit hout treatment, Three years later, however, there is still abnormal re nal function, and the expansion of NK cells persists, although with no indication of malignancy, We review the features of the different lar ge granular lymphocyte proliferations and their seldom described relat ionship with renal disease, (C) loss Wiley-Liss, Inc.