N-ACETYL-CYSTEINE ENHANCES CELL-ADHESION PROPERTIES OF EPITHELIAL ANDLYMPHOID-CELLS

In this paper, we show that the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) is capable of enhancing the adhesion properties of the epithelial cell l ine A431 and of the lymphocytic cells with cytotoxic activitv from hum an peripheral blood: the natural killer (NK) cells. This effect leads to an increased efficiency of A431 cells to form a monolayer and of NK cells to kill their targets. In both cases a specific effect of NAC w as found in the distribution of those molecules of the cytoskeleton wh ich are generally involved in cell substrate and cell-to-cell contact region formation, e.g., the actin microfilaments. NAC could thus behav e as a drug influencing certain cytoskeleton-dependent cell processes in a non-histotype dependent manner.