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Histamine Protects T Cells and Natural Killer Cells Against Oxidative Stress

1999; Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; Volume: 19; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1089/107999099313073

1557-7465

Markus Hansson, Svante Hermodsson, Mats Brune, Ulf‐Henrik Mellqvist, Peter Naredi, Åsa Betten, Kurt R. Gehlsen, Kristoffer Hellstrand,

T-cell and B-cell Immunology

Oxidative stress inflicted by monocytes/macrophages (MO) is recognized as an important immunosuppressive mechanism in human neoplastic disease. We report that two types of lymphocytes of relevance for protection against malignant cells, T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, became anergic to the T cell and NK cell activator interleukin-2 (IL-2) after exposure to MO-derived reactive oxygen metabolities and subsequently acquired features characteristic of apoptosis. The MO-induced anergy and apoptosis in T cells and NK cells were reversed by histamine, an inhibitor of reactive oxygen metabolite synthesis in MO. We propose that strategies to circumvent oxidative inhibition of lymphocytes may be of benefit in immunotherapy of neoplastic disease.