Biology of Natural Killer Cells

By G. Trinchieri. Advances in Immunology, 2008

3,154 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Studies of cytotoxicity by human lymphocytes revealed not only that both allogeneic and syngeneic tumor cells were lysed in a non-MHC-restricted fashion, but also that lymphocytes from normal donors were often cytotoxic. Lymphocytes from any healthy donor, as well as peripheral blood and spleen lymphocytes from several experimental animals, in the absence of known or deliberate sensitization, were found to be spontaneously cytotoxic in vitro for some normal fresh cells, most cultured cell lines, immature hematopoietic cells, and tumor cells. This type of nonadaptive, non-MHC-restricted cellmediated cytotoxicity was defined as “natural” cytotoxicity, and the effector cells mediating natural cytotoxicity were functionally defined as natural killer (NK) cells. The existence of NK cells has prompted a reinterpretation of both the studies of specific cytotoxicity against spontaneous human tumors and the theory of immune surveillance, at least in its most restrictive interpretation. Unlike cytotoxic T cells, NK cells cannot be demonstrated to have clonally distributed specificity, restriction for MHC products at the target cell surface, or immunological memory. NK cells cannot yet be formally assigned to a single lineage based on the definitive identification of a stem cell, a distinct anatomical location of maturation, or unique genotypic rearrangements.

Subfields: Immunology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/666db4c90f03cb71cd87a220a0ae4ddd910610d3

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In Immunology

1. L. Lanier
2. D. Raulet
3. M. Smyth
4. É. Vivier
5. Dan R. Littman
6. L. Moretta
7. A. Moretta
8. A. Diefenbach

Citations in the corpus

• Natural killer cells, viruses and cancer (2001, background): “They comprise up to 15% of peripheral blood lymphocytes and are found in peripheral tissues, including the liver, peritoneal cavity and placent”
• Reciprocal Activating Interaction between Natural Killer Cells and Dendritic Cells (2002, background): “NK cells are effector cells of innate resistance that are able to lyse a variety of cells, including tumor and virus-infected cells, spontaneously in the absence of Ag-specific recognition and clonal expansion (1).”
• A Coordinated Change in Chemokine Responsiveness Guides Plasma Cell Movements (2001, background): “Whether CXCL12 is involved in promoting lodgment of other cell types in the splenic red pulp, such as activated CD8 T cells (53) and NK cells (54), requires further investigation.”
• The expanding family of innate lymphoid cells: regulators and effectors of immunity and tissue remodeling (2011, background): “NK cells can recognize pathogen-induced ligands by using specific receptors and can eliminate infected or stressed target cells through the use of various effector pathways (such as perforin- and granzyme-containing cytotoxic granules, FasL, TRAIL, IFN-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF”
• Recognition of haemagglutinins on virus-infected cells by NKp46 activates lysis by human NK cells (2001, background): “gif" NDATA ITEM> ]> Natural killer (NK) cells destroy virus-infected and tumour cells, apparently without the need for previous antigen stimulatio”
• Contact-dependent Stimulation and Inhibition of Dendritic Cells by Natural Killer Cells (2002, background): “We reasoned that activated NK cells would be more useful for these experiments because (i) an encounter in vivo between NK cells that normally traffic in the blood (4) and iDCs which reside in the tissues (1, 3), should only occur when both cells are activated; (ii) activated NK cells mediate more p”
• Unravelling natural killer cell function: triggering and inhibitory human NK receptors (2004, background): “Unravelling natural killer cell function: triggering and inhibitory human NK receptors”
• Ligands for the murine NKG2D receptor: expression by tumor cells and activation of NK cells and macrophages (2000, methodology): “(a) Stably transfected CHO cells expressing high levels of NKG2D-DAP10 (filled histograms), NKG2A-CD94 (2) or NKG2C-CD94 (3) as well as untransfected control cells (1) were stained with the absorbed antiserum against mNKG2D.”
• A transmembrane CXC chemokine is a ligand for HIV-coreceptor Bonzo (2000, background): “Natural killer (NK) cells in the spleen predominantly localize in the red pul”
• Functions of natural killer cells (2008, background): “NK cells were later recognized as a separate lymphocyte lineage, with both cytotoxicity and cytokine-producing effector function”
• Involvement of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand in surveillance of tumor metastasis by liver natural killer cells (2001, background): “Crucial contribution of IFN-γ to TRAIL expression on NK cells IFN-γ has been implicated in NK cell activatio”