Regulation of NK cell activity by prostaglandin E2: the role of T cells

The influence of T cells on the production of prostaglandins (PGE2) and on PGE2-mediated regulation of natural killer (NK) activity was studied. Supernatants from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and from PBMC depleted of T cells ((PBMC)-T), both of which had been incubated in plastic petri dishes overnight, contained similar amounts of PGE2, as detected by radioimmunoassay and by their potential to inhibit NK activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in a 51Cr release assay with K 562 cells as the target population. However, the NK activity of PBMC was inhibited significantly more strongly (P less than 0.005) by PGE2-containing supernatants than was the NK activity of (PBMC)-T. In further assays, in which synthetic PGE2 in concentrations of 10(-4) and 10(-5)M was added, a significant inhibition of NK activity was observed in PBMC populations (P less than 0.05), but not in (PBMC)-T. Thus, T cells did not seem to be involved in the control of PGE2 production, but their presence was necessary for PGE2-mediated inhibition of NK activity.