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Granulysin in human serum as a marker of cell‐mediated immunity
Author(s) -
Ogawa Kazuyuki,
Takamori Yasushi,
Suzuki Kunou,
Nagasawa Masayuki,
Takano Shoichi,
Kasahara Yoshihito,
Nakamura Yoshiko,
Kondo Shigemi,
Sugamura Kazuo,
Nakamura Masataka,
Nagata Kinya
Publication year - 2003
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.200323977
Subject(s) - granulysin , biology , ctl* , cytotoxic t cell , immunology , cytolysis , immune system , cellular immunity , granzyme , perforin , cd8 , in vitro , biochemistry
Abstract Granulysin is a cytolytic granule protein of natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) with a broad range of antimicrobial and tumoricidal activities. Two molecular forms of granulysin, the 15‐kDa precursor and 9‐kDa mature form, are produced in these cells. In this study, we developed monoclonal antibodies against granulysin and found that the 15‐kDa granulysin is spontaneously secreted by peripheral blood NK and T cells via a non‐granule exocytotic pathway. When NK cells killed the target cells, the released granulysin levels in culture supernatants significantly increased through the granule exocytosis. The granulysin protein was found in the sera of healthy individuals at an average concentration of 3.7±3.2 ng/ml (age 0–99 years, n =244). The serum levels of granulysin were transiently highly elevated among patients with acute viral infections. In addition, the serum granulysin levels in patients with severe immunodeficiency treated bycell therapy fluctuated proportionately to the improvement of other immunological parameters. Our results suggest that granulysin is well associated with diverse activities of NK cells and CTL in physiological and pathological settings and could be a useful novel serum marker to evaluate the overall status of host cellular immunity.