Hyporesponsiveness of natural killer cells and impaired inflammatory responses in critically ill patients.

Background: To investigate natural killer (NK) cell activity, circulating cytokine level and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cytokine production status in critically ill patients.

Methods: Blood samples were collected <24 h after admission from 24 intensive care unit (ICU) patients and 24 age-, sex-, and body mass index (BMI)-matched healthy controls. Serum cytokine concentrations and cytokine production by PBMCs and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated PBMCs were measured.

Effect of Immune-Enhancing Enteral Nutrition Enriched with or without Beta-Glucan on Immunomodulation in Critically Ill Patients.

We investigated whether high-protein enteral nutrition with immune-modulating nutrients (IMHP) enriched with β-glucan stimulates immune function in critically ill patients. In a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study, 30 patients consumed one of three types of enteral nutrition: a control or IMHP with and without β-glucan. The IMHP with β-glucan group showed increases in natural killer (NK) cell activities relative to the baseline, and greater increases were observed in NK cell activities relative to the control group after adjusting for age and gender.