Impaired release of natural killer cytotoxic factor in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome

The impaired natural killer (NK) cell activity against K562 target cells of patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (primary SS) was reexamined in a 2-year follow-up study of 10 patients and 10 normal controls. The ability of blood mononuclear cells (BMNC) to form effector/target cell conjugates and to release NK cytotoxic factor (NKCF) were studied. NK cell activity of the patients was unchanged low (P < 0.01) compared with the controls. The number of effector/target cell conjugates did not differ between patients and controls, whereas NKCF-release from interferon-stimulated BMNC was significantly (P < 0.01) reduced in the patients with primary SS and positively correlated to the reduced NK cell activity (r = 0.85, P = 0.0002). The permanently low NK cell activity of patients with primary SS appears therefore, at least in part, to be due to an impaired release of NKCF and not to a defective ability of effector cells to recognize and/or adhere to target cells.