| First Author | Vosshenrich CA | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 1217-24 |
| PubMed ID | 17013389 | Mgi Jnum | J:113562 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3686958 | Doi | 10.1038/ni1395 |
| Citation | Vosshenrich CA, et al. (2006) A thymic pathway of mouse natural killer cell development characterized by expression of GATA-3 and CD127. Nat Immunol 7(11):1217-24 |
| abstractText | Natural killer (NK) cell development is thought to occur in the bone marrow. Here we identify the transcription factor GATA-3 and CD127 (IL-7Ralpha) as molecular markers of a pathway of mouse NK cell development that originates in the thymus. Thymus-derived CD127(+) NK cells repopulated peripheral lymphoid organs, and their homeostasis was strictly dependent on GATA-3 and interleukin 7. The CD127(+) NK cells had a distinct phenotype (CD11b(lo)CD16(-)CD69(hi)Ly49(lo)) and unusual functional attributes, including reduced cytotoxicity but considerable cytokine production. Those characteristics are reminiscent of human CD56(hi)CD16(-) NK cells, which we found expressed CD127 and had more GATA-3 expression than human CD56(+)CD16(+) NK cells. We propose that bone marrow and thymic NK cell pathways generate distinct mouse NK cells with properties similar to those of the two human CD56 NK cell subsets. |
