Natural Killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that constitute a major component of the innate immune system. Immunosurveillance of the host by NK cells for malignant and virally-infected cells results in direct cytotoxicity and the production of cytokines to enhance the immune response. This protocol will describe the “gold standard” chromium release assay for measuring the target cell killing capacity of NK cells. Key features of this cytotoxicity assay are that it is performed with sorted NK cells as the effectors and any Major Histocompatibility Class I (MHC-I)-low or deficient tumor cell line can be used as the target cells.
Tai, L., Souza, C. T. D., Makrigiannis, A. P. and Auer, R. A. C. (2013). Ex vivo Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity Assay. Bio-protocol 3(16): e863. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.863.