| First Author | Nabekura T | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | J Exp Med | Volume | 213 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | 2745-2758 |
| PubMed ID | 27810928 | Mgi Jnum | J:237515 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5812842 | Doi | 10.1084/jem.20160726 |
| Citation | Nabekura T, et al. (2016) Tracking the fate of antigen-specific versus cytokine-activated natural killer cells after cytomegalovirus infection. J Exp Med 213(12):2745-2758 |
| abstractText | Natural killer (NK) cells provide important host defense and can generate long-lived memory NK cells. Here, by using novel transgenic mice carrying inducible Cre expressed under the control of Ncr1 gene, we demonstrated that two distinct long-lived NK cell subsets differentiate in a mouse model of cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection. NK cells expressing the MCMV-specific Ly49H receptor differentiated into memory NK cells by an activating signaling through Ly49H and Ly49H- NK cells differentiated into cytokine-activated NK cells by exposure to inflammatory cytokines during infection. Interleukin-12 is indispensable for optimal generation of both antigen-specific memory NK cells and cytokine-activated NK cells. MCMV-specific memory NK cells show enhanced effector function and augmented antitumor activity in vivo as compared with cytokine-activated NK cells, whereas cytokine-activated NK cells exhibited a more robust response to IL-15 and persisted better in an MCMV-free environment. These findings reveal that NK cells are capable of differentiation into distinct long-lived subsets with different functional properties. |
