Premium
Subsets of human natural killer cells and their regulatory effects
Author(s) -
Fu Binqing,
Tian Zhigang,
Wei Haiming
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.297
H-Index - 133
eISSN - 1365-2567
pISSN - 0019-2805
DOI - 10.1111/imm.12224
Subject(s) - biology , interleukin 21 , immunology , lymphokine activated killer cell , janus kinase 3 , immune system , innate lymphoid cell , cytotoxic t cell , population , microbiology and biotechnology , peripheral blood , natural killer t cell , tonsil , natural killer cell , innate immune system , t cell , medicine , genetics , in vitro , environmental health
Summary Human natural killer ( NK ) cells have distinct functions as NK tolerant , NK cytotoxic and NK regulatory cells and can be divided into different subsets based on the relative expression of the surface markers CD 27 and CD 11b. CD 27 + NK cells, which are abundant cytokine producers, are numerically in the minority in human peripheral blood but constitute the large population of NK cells in cord blood, spleen, tonsil and decidua tissues. Recent data suggest that these NK cells may have immunoregulatory properties under certain conditions. In this review, we will focus on these new NK cell subsets and discuss how regulatory NK cells may serve as rheostats or sentinels in controlling inflammation and maintaining immune homeostasis in various organs.