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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1436747
This article is part of the Research Topic Immune Cells, Inflammation, and Cardiovascular Disease: Advancements in Novel Drug Discoveries to Immunotherapeutic Strategies View all 6 articles

Proliferation capability of natural killer cells upon cytokines stimulation correlated negatively with serum lactate dehydrogenase level in coronary artery disease patients

Provisionally accepted
Xuemin Guo Xuemin Guo 1*Ting Xiao Ting Xiao 1Li Lin Li Lin 1Qianqian Gao Qianqian Gao 2Bifa Lai Bifa Lai 1Xianhui Liu Xianhui Liu 1Zhixiong Zhong Zhixiong Zhong 1*
  • 1 Meizhou People's Hospital, Meizhou, China
  • 2 City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Natural killer (NK) cells are proposed to participate in coronary artery disease (CAD) development.However, little is known about how CAD patients' NK cells respond to different stimulatory factors in terms of proliferation capability. Twenty-nine CAD patients' peripheral blood NK cells were isolated and individually treated with IL-2, IL-12, IL-15, IL-18, IL-21, cortisone acetate, hydrocortisone, or ascorbic acid for 36 hours, followed by cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry.The ratio of S and G2/M phase cell number to total cell number was defined as a proliferation index (PrI) and used for proliferative capability indication. The results showed that these eight factors resulted in different life cycle changes in the 29 NK cell samples. Remarkably, 28 out of 29 NK cell samples showed an obvious increase in PrI upon ascorbic acid treatment. The serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level of the 29 CAD patients was measured. The results showed a negative correlation between serum LDH level and the CAD patients' NK cell PrI upon stimulation of interleukins, but not the non-interleukin stimulators. Consistently, a retrospective analysis of 46 CAD patients and 32 healthy donors showed that the circulating NK cell number negatively correlated with the serum LDH level in CAD patients. Unexpectedly, addition of LDH to NK cells significantly enhanced the production of IFN-γ, IL-10 and TNF-α, suggesting a strong regulatory role on NK cell's function. Altogether, ascorbic acid could promote the proliferation of the CAD patients' NK cells; LDH serum level may function as an indicator for NK cell proliferation capability and an immune-regulatory factor.

    Keywords: Natural killer (Nk) cell, Coronary Artery Disease, Stimulatory factor, Proliferative response, Lactate dehydrogenase

    Received: 22 May 2024; Accepted: 16 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, Xiao, Lin, Gao, Lai, Liu and Zhong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xuemin Guo, Meizhou People's Hospital, Meizhou, China
    Zhixiong Zhong, Meizhou People's Hospital, Meizhou, China

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