A NOVEL STRATEGY OF C-MYC ONCOGENE IN NK ACTIVITY REGULATION NOT RELATED TO THE W6 32 MHC CLASS-I EPITOPE/

The c-myc gene encodes a nuclear protein whose precise function is sti ll not fully understood. Introduction of a c-myc gene into a number of cell lines leads to an increase in their susceptibility to NK-cell ly sis. It was reported earlier that c-myc can induce a decrease in the m embrane expression of the MHC class-I molecules and this may be one of the factors that render target cells relatively more susceptible to N K lysis. In this contribution, we show, in a human LCL line transfecte d with a constitutively active c-myc gene, an increased sensitivity to NK lysis, which correlates with an augmented effector-target binding ability of c-myc-transfected LCLs and with a high ICAM-1 expression ra ther than with down-regulation of MHC class-I W6/32 epitope expression . (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.