ANTI-LY-6E.1-MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODY-MEDIATED AUGMENTATION OF INTERLEUKIN-2-DEPENDENT GENERATION OF NATURAL-KILLER-CELL ACTIVITY FROM MOUSE BONE-MARROW CELLS

Studies have shown that the administration of anti-Ly-6E.1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) to tumor-bearing mice augments their T-cell-dependent f unctional activities, splenic natural killer (NK) cell activity, and a ntitumor resistance. The effect of the mAb on splenic NK cell activity resembles that of biological-response modifiers, which involves enhan ced large granular lymphocyte (LGL) development in the bone marrow (BM ) from pre-NK cells, and their subsequent migration and localization i n peripheral organs. We analyze here the effect of anti-Ly-6E.1 mAb on the IL-2-dependent generation of NK cell activity in short-term cultu res of mouse BM cells. The results indicate that an increase in the po pulation of LGLs paralleled the mAb-mediated augmentation of IL-2-indu ced generation of NK cell activity in the cultures. Although pre-NK an d T cells present in the BM expressed Ly-6 antigens, the augmentation of NK cell generation appears to be due to the mAb interacting with th e T cells, not the pre-NK cells, resulting in increased synthesis of t umor necrosis factor-alpha, which in turn enhanced the interleukin-2-d ependent development of NK cell activity.