Cytotoxic activity in children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Abstract We determined the percentage of circulating natural killer (NK) cells, using the monoclonal antibodies anti-CD57 and anti-CD16, NK cytotoxic activity (lytic units/10 6 ) and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity in 25 IDDM patients aged 3–23 years, 12 with disease for 3 years (Group II). Nine age-matched healthy subjects served as controls. The percentage of CD57+ cells was similar in IDDM patients and controls, while the percentage of CD16+ cells was lower in IDDM patients ( P P P P