[Relationship between decreased activity of NK cells in umbilical cord blood and infection incidence in children].

In our study the natural cytotoxic activity of the umbilical blood of healthy newborns born in 1987 was examined. All mothers of the examined children were healthy and pregnancy was normal. Blood was drawn from the umbilical vein immediately after the delivery to the heparinized tubes. Mononuclear cells of the blood were isolated using the modified Boyums method. The mean activity of the NK cells was 8.6 +/- 1.5 (SE), and was lower than in the studies by other authors. Three years after the delivery all mothers of the examined children got the questionnaire about the health of their babies. After the analysis of the results, the correlation between lowered NK cells activity in the umbilical blood and the morbidity of the children was shown.