Ketamine Does Not Change Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity in Patients Undergoing Cancer Surgery: Basic Experiment and Clinical Trial

Figure 3

The NKCC in the combined present and previous clinical trials. Blood sampling was performed before the initiation of anesthesia (baseline) and at 24 h after the induction of anesthesia. The NKCC of each patient was measured with a 3.5 hr chromium-51 (⁵¹Cr) release assay according to the manufacturer’s protocol using the reaction of PBMCs and ⁵¹Cr-labeled K562 cells, at an effector/target ratio of 20 : 1. Compared to each group’s baseline value, the NKCC at 24 h in both groups was significantly decreased in almost the same manner (24 h vs. baseline, vs. baseline). There was no significant between-group difference in NKCC of the ketamine and control groups at the baseline (% vs. %, ) or at 24 h (% vs. %, ), respectively.