Cytofluorimetric analysis is a typical method in immunology to evaluate phenotype and function of Natural Killer (NK) cells derived from HTLV-1/2 infected patients and healthy donors. Here, we described protocols to NK cells phenotypical and cytotoxicity assay, performed by flow cytometry on fresh and immune-magnetically or flow cytometry sorted NK cells. A new developed protocol able to evaluate IFNγ production has been included.
Keywords: HTLV-1; HTLV-2; Inhibitory receptors; NK; NK cell functional analysis.