| First Author | Keppel MP | Year | 2013 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 190 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 4754-62 |
| PubMed ID | 23530145 | Mgi Jnum | J:195522 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5484715 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.1201742 |
| Citation | Keppel MP, et al. (2013) Murine NK Cell Intrinsic Cytokine-Induced Memory-like Responses Are Maintained following Homeostatic Proliferation. J Immunol 190(9):4754-62 |
| abstractText | Several recent studies have demonstrated that innate immune NK cells exhibit memory-like properties with enhanced nonspecific and specific recall responses. Cytokine activation alone of murine NK cells induces the differentiation of memory-like cells that are more likely to produce IFN-gamma, a key NK cell cytokine important for activation of the immune response. Using an adoptive cotransfer system, we first show that cytokine-induced memory-like responses are NK intrinsic. However, engraftment of donor NK cells in NK-competent hosts is poor because of homeostatic control mechanisms. Therefore, we used alymphoid Rag- and common gamma-chain-deficient mice as recipients and observed homeostatic expansion of cotransferred cytokine-activated and control donor NK cells. Despite proliferation of all cells, NK cells derived from those cells originally activated by cytokines retained an intrinsic enhanced capacity to produce IFN-gamma when restimulated in vitro with cytokines or target cells. These NK cell memory-like responses persisted for at least 4 wk in alymphoid hosts and 12 wk in NK-competent hosts. These findings indicate that memory-like NK cells can readily self-renew and maintain enhanced function in a lymphopenic host for at least a month. |
