Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells are the major effectors of the innate immune system when activated resulting in modulation of immune response of the host defense through target cell lysis and secretion of cytokines. Precise functions of NK cells are essential for the treatment outcome of different virus infections and malignant diseases. NK cells impart cytotoxic effect to the target cells lacking MHC class I molecules and thus the final readout of the activity is death of target cells. The NK cell function is evaluated by the 51Cr-release and/or flow cytometry-based assays. In the present protocol, we have determined the activation of NK cells by the liberation of IL-10 and IFNγ, and subsequently its function by enumerating the number of dead tumor cells originally isolated from the ascitic fluid of ovarian cancer patients. The entire assay is based on cells of the healthy donors and patients. Besides determining function, this method is able to demarcate between NK-cell sensitive and insensitive tumor cells. This technique enables researchers to study NK cell functions in healthy donors or in patients to reveal their impact on different malignancies and to further discover new therapeutic strategies.