Background:  Natural Killer cells express killer inhibitory receptors specific for HLA-class I molecules.  These receptors could induce signals that determine NK cells ability to mediate cytotoxicity.  Purified soluble form of HLA class I molecules (sHLA) could bind to NK cell receptors and down-regulate the NK killer function. Objective:  To evaluate the influence of sHLA and two monoclonal an...

Invariant natural killer T cells recognize glycolipid antigens such as α-galactosylceramide presented by CD1d. In preclinical models of B-cell malignancies, α-galactosylceramide is an adjuvant to tumor vaccination, enhancing tumor-specific T-cell responses and prolonging survival. However, numerical and functional invariant natural killer T-cell defects exist in patients with some cancers. Our ...

The analysis of gene function in mature and activated natural killer cells has been hampered by the lack of model systems for Cre-mediated recombination in these cells. Here we have investigated the utility of GzmbCre for recombination of loxp sequences in these cells predicated on the observation that Gzmb mRNA is highly expressed in mature and activated natural killer cells. Using two differe...

In vitro irradiation with long wavelength ultraviolet light (UV-A), in clinically relevant dosages, of a natural killer cell line containing cell preparations from 17 control subjects reduced natural killer cell cytotoxicity with the cell line K562 as target. The spontaneous function of natural killer cells from 12 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) correlated inversely with the o...

Psoriasis is one of the most common immune-mediated disorders. There is evidence that it is mediated by Th1 and, more recently, Th17 cells. The cytokine pattern, particularly the dominance of TNF-α, implicates the innate immune system in psoriasis pathogenesis. Of the many components of the innate immune system known to be involved in psoriatic lesions, natural killer and natural killer T cells...

Natural killer (NK) cells kill infected and tumor cells and produce cytokines that modulate other immune cells. However, most of our current knowledge is derived from investigations of mouse splenic and human peripheral blood NK cells, "conventional" NK cells. Herein we discuss recent studies indicating that the liver contains two subpopulations of NK cells, one of which is liver-resident and b...

The worldwide prevalence, morbidity, and mortality of asthma have dramatically increased over the last few decades and there is a clear need to identify new effective therapeutic and prophylactic strategies. Despite high numbers of NK cells in the lung and their ability to generate a variety of immunomodulatory mediators, the potential of NK cells as therapeutic targets in allergic airway disea...

Natural killer (NK) l cells are unique in the lymphoid system because there is no H2 restriction of killing (1-3), no classical immunological memory, and these cells kill a wide range of unrelated target cells of both tumor (4) and non tumor origin (5). More important ly, however, N K cells pre-exist at high levels in the host (6) in contrast to other effector mechanisms (T cells, ant ibody-dep...