Rapid method for purification of CD56 + natural killer cells with preferential enrichment of the CD56 bright+ subset

A rapid method for the purification of CD56 + natural killer (NK) cells with the preferential enrichment of the CD56 bright+ subset is described. The method is based on the adsorption of CD56 + cells indirectly stained with a biotinylated antibody on an avidin‐coated column. The adsorbed CD56 + cells can then be squeezed out mechanically without damaging the viability or the function of the cells. Starting from peripheral mononuclear cells from adult donors, the recovery of the CD56 + cells was 11.9 ± 9.0% (n = 8), the purity 93.0 ± 4.9% (n = 10), and the enrichment factor 7.5 ± 1.7 (n = 8). Further phenotypic classification of the CD56 + cells into CD56 dim+ and CD56 bright+ cells showed a preferential enrichment of the CD56 bright+ phenotype with a recovery of 40.5 ± 19.6% (n = 8), a purity of 30.3 ± 13.2% (n = 8), and an enrichment factor of 29.8 ± 7.2 (n = 8). In conclusion, the described method allows the rapid purification of CD56 + NK cells with the preferential enrichment of the CD56 bright+ subset. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.