Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Rituximab impedes natural killer cell function in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis patients: A pilot in vitro investigation

11^th International Conference on Nursing and Immunopharmacology

November 20-21, 2017 Melbourne, Australia

Natalie Eaton, Helene Cabanas, Cassandra Balinas, Anne Klein, Donald Staines and Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik

Griffith University, Australia

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Clin Exp Pharmacol

Abstract:

It outlines the toxicological effect Rituximab has on the cytotoxic activity of NK cells isolated from CFS/ME patients. CFS/ ME is a multifactorial disorder commonly characterized by reduced NK cell cytotoxicity. A total of 8 CFS/ME patients (48.63±15.69 years) and 9 Non-Fatigued Controls (NFC) (37.56±11.06 years) were included using the Fukuda case definition. Apoptotic function, lytic proteins (granzyme A and granzyme B) and degranulation markers (CD107a and CD107b) were measured on NK cells using flow cytometric analysis prior to and following overnight incubation with Rituximab at 10 µg/ ml and 100 µg/ml. We reported a significant reduction in NK cell lysis of target K562 cells in CFS/ME patients compared to NFC following incubation with 100 µg/ml of Rituximab (p<0.05). Conversely, no significant difference was reported for NFC following incubation with Rituximab. There was also a significant decrease in granzyme B in CFS/ME patients compared to NFC with 100 µg/ml of Rituximab prior to K562 cells stimulation (p<0.05). Moreover, a significant increase in CD107a (p<0.05) and CD107b (p<0.01) expression was observed in NFC after stimulation with K562 cells prior to incubation with Rituximab. There was a significant increase in CD107b expression in CFS/ME patients before and after overnight incubation with 100 µg/ml of Rituximab prior to K562 cells stimulation (p<0.01). This study showed that Rituximab can have significant impairment on NK cell activity and finally the toxicological effects may worsen patientsâ?? symptoms.

Biography :

Natalie Eaton has completed her Bachelor of Health Science degree with a major in Biomedical Science at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia