Natural killer (NK) cells are the highly skilled special agents of the immune system. They're like other white blood cells, in that they patrol the organism looking for bacteria and cancer cells. But, they're different from other white bloods cells (WBC) in one very important way. Other WBC need previous contact to disease agents in order to recognize, then attack them. NKs don't.
NK cells don't need a prior introduction. They seem to be especially good at spotting the bad guys right away and as soon as they detect an enemy, they quickly marshal up forces and aim their chemical weapons (perforin and granzymes) directly at their target.The granzymes activate the mechanisms of programmed self-destruction. It's as if they give the cancer cell an order to commit suicide, an order it has no choice but to obey. In response to this message, its nucleus crumbles, leading to the cancer cell's collapse. The deflated remains of the cell are then ready to be digested by macrophages, which are the garbage collectors of the immune system and are always found in the wake of NK cells.
A study of 77 women with breast cancer shows just how important these bad boys are. Samples of each woman's tumor taken at the time of diagnosis were cultivated with her own NK cells. Certain patients' NK cells simply didn't react, as though their vitality had been mysteriously zapped. With others, NKs jumped into high gear, indicating an active immune system. At the end of the study, 12 years later, 47% of the patients whose NK cells had not reacted in the lab had died. On the other hand, 95% of those whose immune systems had been active under the microscope were still alive.
So what can we do to ensure our natural born killer cells are strong and ready for action? For starters, lets take a look at what decreases NK cell activity. NK cell activity naturally decreases as we age. Since we can't do much with that, let's move along to the second one - psychological stress. Both acute and chronic psychological stress reduce NK activity. Sleep depravation is another contributor. Social isolation, persistent anger or despair and a sedentary lifestyle also inhibit the immune system. And then there's chemotherapy and radiation therapy. And rounding out the negatives is our traditional western, very inflammatory diet.
So...there are many things in that list above we can do something about, diet and stress being two very important ones. My Rx includes daily exercise and stress relief, laughter and significant diet modifications, much is focused on keeping inflammation at bay (more on that later). I've also got some key supplements that have been proven effective in this regard. See next post for my full list of Immune System Boosters.
In closing I want to mention an interesting study I happened upon while doing my immune system research. This study (there are actually several like this), looked at the effect of a short, leisurely visit to a forest, on a person's NK activity.
Thirteen healthy nurses, age 25-43 years, professional career 4-18 years experienced a three-day/two-night trip to forest fields. On day 1, the subjects walked for two hours in the afternoon in a forest field; on day 2, they walked for two hours each in the morning and afternoon in two different forest fields. The forest bathing trip significantly increased NK activity and the numbers of NK, perforin, granulysin, and granzymes A/B-expressing cells and significantly decreased the percentage of T cells, and the concentrations of adrenaline and noradrenaline in urine.
The increased NK activity lasted for more than 7 days after the trip. Phytoncides, such as alpha-pinene and beta-pinene were detected in forest air. These findings indicate that a forest bathing trip also increased NK activity, number of NK cells, and levels of intracellular anti-cancer proteins in female subjects, and that this effect lasted at least 7 days after the trip. Phytoncides released from trees and decreased stress hormone levels may partially contribute to the increased NK activity.For more info, check out http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793341/
If you've ever visited forests in Japan, you'd have no problem understanding their power. Here's a picture of one of my favorite places, the walking path to Meigi Shrine, which is amazingly right in Tokyo.
After the death of Emperor Meiji in 1912 and Empress Shoken in 1914, the Japanese people decided to commemorate them by building a forest. So they donated 100,000 trees from all over Japan and oversees, and they worked to voluntarily create this forest. The shrine was established in 1920.
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