Fig. 4
Natural killer (NK) cells in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) are mature cells with preserved competence for immune recognition. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated and analyzed by flow cytometry as described in Fig. 2. a Dot blots showing the percentages of CD56dim NK cells from healthy control subjects (HCs; n = 29) and patients with GPA (n = 28). b, c Bar graphs showing the additive effect on degranulation of NK cells after 4-h incubation of PBMCs with target cell lines. For further details of the experimental setup, see Material and methods section. b The additive effect on degranulation of NK cells from patients with GPA (n = 5; 2 active, 3 inactive) and HCs (n = 7) cultured with the epithelial cell line BxPC-3 transfected with a vector control (BxPC3-VC). c The additive effect on degranulation of NK cells from patients with GPA (n = 2; 1 active, 1 inactive) and HCs (n = 3) cultured with the JE6-1 (leukemic Jurkat) lymphatic cell line transfected with a vector control (JE6-1-VC). The additive effect on degranulation is defined by the percentage NK cells expressing the degranulation marker CD107a after incubation with target cells minus the percentage of NK cells expressing the degranulation marker CD107a after incubation without target cells. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test (not significant)