Fig. 3: Influence of 3-D NK cell motility on cytotoxicity.

a Motile fraction of fresh (blue) and cryopreserved (red) NK cells from n = 10 independent experiments from five subjects and five different expansions in 1.2 mg/ml collagen gel (p = 0.002; two-sided nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired data). Each symbol represents mean ± se from cells measured in five field of view, with ~80 cells (motile plus nonmotile) in each field of view. In total, n = 1248 fresh motile cells and n = 122 cryopreserved motile NK cells were measured. Paired (fresh vs. cryopreserved) data from each subject and expansion are connected by lines. b NK cell cytotoxicity (as measured in a chromium-release assay) as a function of the motile NK cell fraction for fresh (blue) and cryopreserved (red) NK cells. Different NK-to-target cell ratios are noted above each graph. Dashed lines indicate a power-law fit of the form f(x) = a·x^b. R² values are computed in log–log space. Statistical significance assuming a power-law exponent of b = 0 as null hypothesis: 20:1: p = 0.0013; 10:1: p = 0.0028; 5:1: p = 0.0013; 2.5:1: p = 0.00045 by two-sided nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test for paired data. Source data are provided as a Source data file.