The correlation between NK cell and liver function in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Background/Aims: This study aimed to detect the expres-sion of natural killer (NK) cell receptor natural killer group 2D (NKG2D) in the peripheral blood of patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma and to discuss the correlation be-tween NK cell cytotoxicity and liver function. Methods: The number of NK cells and the expression of NK cell receptor NKG2D in peripheral blood were determined by flow cytom-etry in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma, hepa-titis B cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B, and healthy controls. Results: When compared with patients in the healthy and the chronic hepatitis B groups, the primary hepatocellular carcinoma group showed significant decreases in all param-eters, including the cytotoxicity of NK cells on K562 cells, expression rate of NKG2D in NK cells, number of NKG2D+ NK cells, expression level of NKG2D, and number of NK cells (p<0.05). The activity of NK cells showed a positive correla-tion, whereas the Child-Pugh scores in the primary hepatocel-lular carcinoma and the hepatitis B cirrhosis groups showed a negative correlation with all parameters detected above. Conclusions: The decrease of NK cell activity in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma is closely related to their lower expression of NKG2D. Liver function affects the expression of NKG2D and the activity of NK cells. (Gut Live