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. 2022 Nov;65(6):861-867.
doi: 10.3340/jkns.2020.0339. Epub 2022 Nov 1.

Preliminary Study on Natural Killer Cell Activity for Interferon-Gamma Production after Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Brain Tumors

Kawngwoo Park  1 , Sang Soon Jeong  2 , Jung Hoon Kim  2 , Hyun-Tai Chung  2 , Eun Jung Lee  2 , Hyo Eun Moon  2   3   4 , Kwang Hyon Park  2 , Jin Wook Kim  2 , Hye Ran Park  5 , Jae Meen Lee  6 , Hye Ja Lee  7 , Hye Rim Kim  7 , Yong Hwan Cho  7 , Sun Ha Paek  2   3   4
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Preliminary Study on Natural Killer Cell Activity for Interferon-Gamma Production after Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Brain Tumors

Kawngwoo Park et al. J Korean Neurosurg Soc. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: High-dose radiation is well known to induce and modulate the immune system. This study was performed to evaluate the correlation between clinical outcomes and changes in natural killer cell activity (NKA) after Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKS) in patients with brain cancer.

Methods: We performed an open-label, prospective, cross-sectional study of 38 patients who were treated with GKS for brain tumors, including metastatic and benign brain tumors. All of the patients underwent GKS, and blood samples were collected before and after GKS. NKA was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit, to measure interferon-gamma (IFNγ) secreted by ex vivo-stimulated NK cells from whole blood. We explored the correlations between NK cell-produced IFNγ (NKA-IFNγ) levels and clinical parameters of patients who were treated with GKS for brain tumors.

Results: NKA-IFNγ levels were decreased in metastatic brain tumor patients compared to those with benign brain tumors (p<0.0001). All the patients who used steroid treatment to reduce brain swelling after GKS had an NKA-IFNγ level of zero except one patient. High NKA-IFNγ levels were not associated with a rapid decrease in brain metastasis and did not increase after GKS.

Conclusion: The activity of NK cells in metastatic brain tumors decreased more than that in benign brain tumors after GKS.

Keywords: Gamma Knife Radiosurgery; Interferon-gamma; Natural killer cell.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Comparison of natural killer cell activities pre- and post-Gamma Knife Radiosurgery (GKS). *p<0.01 vs. the control group. †p<0.001 vs. the control group. NKA-IFNγ : natural killer cell-produced interferon-gamma.
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