Alterations in natural killer (NK) cell number and function were examined in cigarette smokers and nonsmokers with silicosis, silica dust exposure without silicosis, or no exposure to rock dust. Blood NK cell number, percentage, and tumoricidal activity were measured in 120 hardrock miners, 57 of whom had radiographic evidence of silicosis, and in 33 community referents. There was a significant increase in leukocyte count and lymphocyte count in current smokers compared with former and never smokers; these cell counts were normal in silicotics and in those with silica dust exposure. No significant differences in NK cell number or percentage were found by flow cytometric analysis of smoking or dust exposure groups. NK tumoricidal activity, however, was significantly greater in cigarette smokers compared with former smokers and never smoker referent subjects. Although tumoricidal activity was elevated in silicotics, this was accounted for by the effect of cigarette smoking. The authors conclude that cigarette smoking appears to be associated with elevation of blood NK cell tumoricidal activity on a per cell basis and in the absence of any alteration in the absolute number of NK cells in the blood.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.