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Human large granular lymphocytes contain an esterase activity usually considered as specific for the myeloid series
Author(s) -
Heumann Didier,
Colombatti Marco,
Mach JeanPierre
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
european journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 201
eISSN - 1521-4141
pISSN - 0014-2980
DOI - 10.1002/eji.1830130315
Subject(s) - percoll , esterase , biology , cytochemistry , cytotoxic t cell , microbiology and biotechnology , receptor , natural killer cell , staining , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , k562 cells , enzyme , biochemistry , cell , in vitro , genetics
Abstract A cytochemical marker such as alpha‐naphthyl acetate esterase (ANAE) has been found useful for the morphological identification of the subset of T lymphocytes having receptors for Fcμ (T M cells). ANAE reaction on T M cells gives a typical pattern of one to four positive spots, whereas this pattern is not found on T cells with receptors for Fcγ (T G cells). ANAE is abundant in monocytes but not detectable in granulocytes. Herein another type of esterase activity, naphthol‐AS‐D chloroacetate esterase (NCAE), is described; it is known to be abundant in granulocytes and was found to give a specific pattern of reactivity with the subpopulation of large granular lymphocytes (LGL). This pattern of fine granular staining was observed not only on LGL present in the T G cell subpopulation but also in LGL present in the non‐T, non‐B cells. Fractions of peripheral blood mononuclear cells which were ènriched up to 80% in LGL by Percoll discontinuous density gradient gave a similar percentage of specific NCAE pattern. In addition, among the different fractions from Percoll gradient, there was a good correlation (r = 0.94) between the number of NCAE‐positive cells and the natural killer activity against the natural killer susceptible K562 target cells. It will be important to determine whether or not this enzymatic activity plays a role in the cytotoxic activities of LGL.