There have been many published reports of low Natural Killer cell activity or function in persons with Fibromyalgia. Natural Killer cells are your first line of defense in your innate immune systems. Natural Killer cells are lethal lymphocytes containing granules filled with potent chemicals. They protect you against and target tumor cells and a wide variety of infectious microbes, particularly virally infected cells. NK cells kill by binding to their targets and delivering a lethal burst of chemicals that produce holes in the target cell's membrane.
Fluids seep in and leak out and the cells burst and die.
The patients' blood was drawn and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated and NK cell activity was assessed by a variation of the 51Cr release assay. The target cells were live K562 erytholeukemic cells. Natural Killer cell cytolytic activity was calculated at the baseline of day 1 and on the 21st day. All of the nine patients had significant increases in Natural Killer cell activity.