Open AccessContemplating the murine test tube: lessons from natural killer cells and Cryptococcus neoformans
Author(s) -
Marr Kaleb J.,
Jones Gareth J.,
Mody Christopher H.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
fems yeast research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1567-1364
pISSN - 1567-1356
DOI - 10.1111/j.1567-1364.2006.00096.x
Subject(s) - cryptococcus neoformans , biology , immune system , effector , repertoire , immunity , immunology , laboratory mouse , cryptococcosis , natural killer cell , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , cytotoxic t cell , physics , acoustics , in vitro
Murine experimentation has provided many useful tools, including the ability to knockout or over‐express genes and to perform experiments that are limited by ethical considerations. Over the past century, mice have imparted valuable insights into the biology of many systems, including human immunity. However, although there are many similarities between the immune response of humans and mice, there are also many differences; none is more prominent than when examining natural killer cell biology. These differences include tissue distribution, effector molecules, receptor repertoire, and cytokine responses, all of which have important implications when extrapolating the studies to the human immune responses to Cryptococcus neoformans .