IL-4 INHIBITS P-GLYCOPROTEIN IN NORMAL AND MALIGNANT NK CELLS

Patients presenting with a natural killer (NK) cell leukemia generally have a poor prognosis. NK cell tumors are generally resistant to nume rous chemotherapeutic drugs and even combination chemotherapy usually results in only shore term remissions. The drug resistance of NK cell leukemias may be at lease partially explained by their expression of t he multidrug resistant transporter, P-glycoprotein (Pgp). In this stud y, we demonstrate that the expression and function of Pgp activity on NK cells (leukemic and normal) can be reversed with IL-4. Human Immuno logy 59, 483-487 (1998). (C) American Society for Histocompatibility a nd Immunogenetics, 1998. Published by Elsevier Science Inc.