Effect of Mistletoe on Activity of NK cell in Endometriosis = Effect of Mistletoe on Activity of NK cell in Endometriosis

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of mistletoe on NK cell cytotoxicity and its mechanism of action on NK cells in the endometriotic peritoneal fluid. NK cell line was incubated in peritoneal fluids from women between 20 and 40 years of age (divided into two groups according to the disease stage: stage 1 & 2 - group A, stage 3 & 4 - group B) who underwent laparoscopic surgery from January 2011 to December 2011, and the cytotoxicity of NK cells against target cells (K562 cells) was evaluated. The cytotoxicity of NK cells before mistletoe treatment was compared with the cytotoxicity of NK cells after mistletoe treatment, and the effect of mistletoe on NK cell apoptosis was evaluated. In addition, the expression of CD107a, which directly participates in exocytosis of cytotoxic granules, was compared. The cytotoxicity of NK cells showed a significant difference between the control peritoneal group, the endometriosis group A and group B (75.55%, 69.59% and 63.8%, respectively). The cytotoxicity of NK cells was diminished according to the stage of endometriosis (p=0.032). The cytotoxicity of NK cells before and after treatment with 200 ng/ml mistletoe was 81.64% vs 87.75% (p=0.012) in the control peritoneal fluid group, 78.30% vs 86.40% (p=0.003) in the endometriosis group A, and 73.67% vs 84.54% (p=0.024) in group B, respectively. No significant difference was observed between NK cell apoptosis before treatment with mistletoe and NK cell apoptosis after treatment with mistletoe in all groups; 1.94% vs 1.93% in the control peritoneal fluid group, 1.74% vs 1.77% in group A, and 1.49% vs 1.27% in group B (p=0.373). The expression of CD107a was significantly increased in each group after mistletoe treatment. The expression of CD107a before and after mistletoe treatment was 0.70% vs 1.67% (p=0.012) in the control peritoneal fluid group, 0.59% vs 1.10% (p=0.002) in group A, and 0.79% vs 1.40% (p=0.014) in group B, respectively. Mistletoe directly influenced exocytosis of cytotoxic granules by increasing the expression of CD107a in NK cells, and consequently there was a recovery of cytotoxicity of NK cells. Therefore, it can be expected that mistletoe will be significantly effective in the treatment of endometriosis