• Molecules and Cells
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.1-8
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• 2007

Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in innate immune system and tumor surveillance. NK cells are derived from $CD34^+$hematopoietic stem cells and undergo differentiation via precursor NK cells in bone marrow (BM) through sequential acquisition of functional surface receptors. During differentiation of NK cells, many factors are involved including cytokines, membrane factors and transcription factors as well as microenvironment of BM. NK cells express their own repertoire of receptors including activating and inhibitory receptors that bind to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I or class I-related molecules. The balance between activating and inhibitory receptors determines the function of NK cells to kill targets. Binding of NK cell inhibitory receptors to their MHC class I-ligand renders the target cells to be protected from NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Thus, NK cells are able to discriminate self from non-self through MHC class I-binding inhibitory receptor. Using intrinsic properties of NK cells, NK cells are emerging to apply as therapeutic agents against many types of cancers. Recently, NK cell alloactivity has also been exploited in killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor mismatched haploidentical stem cell transplantation to reduce the rate of relapse and graft versus host disease. In this review, we discuss the basic mechanisms of NK cell differentiation, diversity of NK cell receptors, and clinical applications of NK cells for anti-cancer immunotherapy.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.8.1-8.13
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• 2023

CD8⁺ T cells are activated by TCRs that recognize specific cognate Ags, while NK-cell activation is regulated by a balance between signals from germline-encoded activating and inhibitory NK receptors. Through these different processes of Ag recognition, CD8⁺ T cells and NK cells play distinct roles as adaptive and innate immune cells, respectively. However, some human CD8⁺ T cells have been found to express activating or inhibitory NK receptors. CD8⁺ T-cell populations expressing NK receptors straddle the innate-adaptive boundary with their innate-like features. Recent breakthrough technical advances in multi-omics analysis have enabled elucidation of the unique immunologic characteristics of these populations. However, studies have not yet fully clarified the heterogeneity and immunological characteristics of each CD8⁺ T-cell population expressing NK receptors. Here we aimed to review the current knowledge of various CD8⁺ T-cell populations expressing NK receptors, and to pave the way for delineating the landscape and identifying the various roles of these T-cell populations.

• 한양메디칼리뷰
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.59-64
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• 2013

Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite intense efforts in developing innovative treatments. Current approaches in cancer therapy are mainly directed to a selective targeting of cancer cells to avoid potential side effects associated with conventional therapy. In this respect, Natural killer (NK) cells have gained growing attention and are now being considered as promising therapeutic tools for cancer therapy owing to their intrinsic ability to rapidly recognize and kill cancer cells, while sparing normal healthy cells. NK cells play a key role in the first line of defense against transformed and virus-infected cells. NK cells sense their target through a whole array of receptors, both activating and inhibitory. Functional outcome of NK cell against target cells is determined by the balance of signals transmitted from diverse activating and inhibiting receptors. Despite significant progress made in the role of NK cells attack as a pivotal sentinel in tumor surveillance, the molecular has been that regulate NK cell responses remain unclear, which restricts the use of NK cells as a therapeutic measure. Accordingly, current efforts for NK cell-based cancer therapy have largely relied on the strategies that are based on the manipulation of inhibitory receptor function. However, if we better understand the mechanisms governing NK cell activation, including those mediated by diverse activating receptors, this knowledge can be applied to the development of optimal design for cancer immunotherapy by targeting NK cells.

• BMB Reports
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.44-58
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• 2021

Natural killer (NK) cells, key antitumor effectors of the innate immune system, are endowed with the unique ability to spontaneously eliminate cells undergoing a neoplastic transformation. Given their broad reactivity against diverse types of cancer and close association with cancer prognosis, NK cells have gained considerable attention as a promising therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy. NK cell-based therapies have demonstrated favorable clinical efficacies in several hematological malignancies but limited success in solid tumors, thus highlighting the need to develop new therapeutic strategies to restore and optimize anti-tumor activity while preventing tumor immune escape. The current therapeutic modalities yielding encouraging results in clinical trials include the blockade of immune checkpoint receptors to overcome the immune-evasion mechanism used by tumors and the incorporation of tumor-directed chimeric antigen receptors to enhance NK cell anti-tumor specificity and activity. These observations, together with recent advances in the understanding of NK cell activation within the tumor microenvironment, will facilitate the optimal design of NK cell-based therapy against a broad range of cancers and, more desirably, refractory cancers.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제12권6호
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• pp.240-246
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• 2012

Natural killer (NK) cells play a pivotal role in early surveillance against virus infection and cellular transformation, and are also implicated in the control of inflammatory response through their effector functions of direct lysis of target cells and cytokine secretion. NK cell activation toward target cell is determined by the net balance of signals transmitted from diverse activating and inhibitory receptors. A distinct feature of NK cell activation is that stimulation of resting NK cells with single activating receptor on its own cannot mount natural cytotoxicity. Instead, specific pairs of co-activation receptors are required to unleash NK cell activation via synergy- dependent mechanism. Because each co-activation receptor uses distinct signaling modules, NK cell synergy relies on the integration of such disparate signals. This explains why the study of the mechanism underlying NK cell synergy is important and necessary. Recent studies revealed that NK cell synergy depends on the integration of complementary signals converged at a critical checkpoint element but not on simple amplification of the individual signaling to overcome intrinsic activation threshold. This review focuses on the signaling events during NK cells activation and recent advances in the study of NK cell synergy.

• 동국한의학연구소논문집
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• 제6권2호
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• pp.99-107
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• 1998

본 실험은 cyclosporin A(CsA)에 의한 시간의 경과에 따른 림프절에서의 세포성 면역억제를 조사하기 위해서 시행된 것으로 BALB/C계 생쥐에 10일동안 CsA(45mg/kg/day) 투여 후 림프절에서의 T 림프구, IL-2 수용기 그리고 자연살해(NK)세포의 분포 변화를 관찰하였다. 대조군의 림프절에서는 L3T4(CD4)에 양성반응을 보이는 도움 T림프구, Ly2(CD8)에 양성반응을 보이는 세포독성 T 림프구 그리고 CD25R에 양성반응을 보이는 IL-2 수용기를 가진 세포는 곁피질(paracortex)과 수질동(medullary sinus)에서 분포하였다. CsA 투여 후 처음 3일까지는 이들 양성반응세포의 분포 변화는 없었으며 양성반응성의 변화도 없었다. 그러나 CsA 투여 7일부터 양성반응 세포수의 감소와 양성반응성의 약화가 관찰되기 시작하였으며 이러한 변화는 시간이 경과하여 14일에 이르렀을 때 가장 큰 감소추세로 나타났다. 한편 NK1.1(CD56)에 양성반응을 보이는 자연살해세포는 피질과 수질에 분포하였으며 CsA 투여 후 시간의 경과에 따라 양성반응 세포수가 감소하였으며, 이러한 감소는 14일에서 가장 큰 것으로 나타났다. 이상의 결과로 미루어보아 CsA 투여는 림프절에서의 IL-2 분비저해를 통해 T 림프구와 NK세포의 활성을 차단하여 선택적이면서 효과적인 세포성 면역억제작용을 하고 있는 것으로 사료된다.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제4권4호
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• pp.205-215
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• 2004

In the early host defense system, effector function of natural killer (NK) cells results in natural killing against target cells such as microbe-infected, malignant, and certain allogenic cells without prior stimulation. NK cell cytotoxicity is selectively regulated by homeostatic prevalence between a repertoire of both activating and inhibitory receptors, and the discrimination of untransformed cells is achieved by recognition of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alleles through inhibitory signals. Although it is well known that the bipotential T/NK progenitors are derived from the common precusor, functional mechanisms in terms of the development of NK cells remain to be further investigated. NK cells are mainly involved in innate immunity, but recent studies have been reported that they also play a critical role in adaptive immune responses through interaction with dendritic cells (DC). This interaction will provide effector functions and development of NK cells, and elucidation of its precise mechanism may lead to therapeutic strategies for effective treatment of several immune diseases.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제29권3호
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• pp.178-183
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• 2023

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate cytotoxic lymphoid cells that actively prevent neoplastic development, growth, and metastatic dissemination in a process called cancer immunosurveillance. Regulation of the cytotoxic activity of NK cells relies on integrated interactions between inhibitory receptors and numerous activating receptors that act in tandem to eliminate tumor cells efficiently. Conventional chemotherapy is designed to produce an anti-proliferative or cytotoxic effect on early tumor cell division. Therapies designed to kill cancer cells and simultaneously maintain host anti-tumor immunity are attractive strategies for controlling tumor growth. Depending on the drug and dose used, several chemotherapeutic agents cause DNA damage and cancer cell death through apoptosis, immunogenic cell death, or other forms of non-killing (i.e., mitotic catastrophe, senescence, autophagy). Among stress-induced immunostimulatory proteins, changes in the expression levels of NK cell activating and inhibitory ligands and tumor cell death receptors play an important role in the detection and elimination by innate immune effectors including NK cells. Therefore, we will address how these cytotoxic lymphocytes sense and respond to high and low concentrations of drug-induced stress to the drug cisplatin, among the various types of drugs that contribute to their anticancer activity.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제42권5호
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• pp.744-751
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• 1995

연구배경: 여러 종류의 자극으로 감각신경(C-fiber)의 말단부에서 분비되는 신경단백질인 substance P와 neurokinin A는 기관지 평활근의 수축, 점막의 혈장 유출 및 점액의 과분비를 일으켜 기관지 천식 발병 기전에 중요한 역활을 한다. 이러한 기도 신경단백질은 $NK_1$, $NK_2$, $NK_3$ 등의 3종류의 수용체를 통하여 작용하며, $NK_1$ 수용체에 주로 작용하는 substance P는 기도의 혈관확장과 혈장 유출에 관여하며 $NK_2$ 수용체에 작용하는 neurokinin A는 기도의 수축에 주로 작용하며 기도혈장 유출에도 관여하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 목적: 저지들은 백서의 미주신경인 비교감 및 비부교감 신경을 전기적 자극으로 유발된 기도 혈장 유출에서 $NK_1$과 $NK_2$ 수용체 차단제인 FK224를 이용하여 기도내 신경성 염증에서 혈장유출에 대한 효과를 기도 부위별로 확인하였다. 대상 및 방법: 백서 21마리를 7마리씩 3군으로 나누어 미주신경에 전기적 자극을 하지 않은 대조군(control group), 2분간 자극한 군(NANC2군)과 신경 단백 수용체 차단제인 FK224를 미주신경 자극 전에 사용한 군(FK224군)에서 Evans blue dye를 이용하여 기도 부위별 혈장 유출의 정도를 각 군간에 비교하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. 결과: 1) 2분간 신경 자극한 군(NANC2군)은 대조군에 비하여 기관에서 49.7(${\pm}2.5$)ng/mg으로 353%, 주기관지에서 38.7(${\pm}2.8$)ng/mg으로 221%의 증가와 말초기관지 19.1(${\pm}1.6$)ng/mg으로 151%로 혈장 유출이 모두 유의하게 높았으며(p<0.05), 주로 상부 기도에서 혈장 유출 정도가 심하였으나, 폐실질은 13.0(${\pm}1.8$)ng/mg, 76%로 대조군과 차이는 없었다(p>0.05). 2) 신경 단백질 수용체 차단제를 사용한 FK224군은 2분간 신경 자극한 군에 비하여 기관에서 24.3(${\pm}2.2$)ng/mg으로 49%, 주기관지에서 22.3(${\pm}1.6$)ng/mg 으로 58%의 억제와 말초기관지 13.3(${\pm}0.8$) ng/mg으로 70%로 혈장 유출이 모두 유의하게 감소되었다(p<0.05). 결론: 이상의 결과에 의하면 백서에서 미주신경(NANC)의 전기적 자극으로 유발된 혈장유출은 기도에서만 발생되고 주로 상부기도에서 혈장유출이 심하며, $NK_1$과 $NK_2$ 수용체 차단제인 FK224를 전처치하여 substance P와 neurokinin A의 수용체 차단으로 기도 혈장 유출이 억제됨을 알 수 있었다.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.155-158
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• 2023

In the present study, we investigated whether treatment with KRG improve the parameters of immune activity such as the cytotoxicity, populations of CD4⁺ CD8⁺T cell, CD3^-CD172^-CD8⁺ NK cell and CD172⁺ monocyte as well as natural cytotoxicity receptors such as Nkp46, Nkp44, Nkp30. In results, KRG significantly increased these immune activities. These results indicate that KRG has distinct immuneenhancing effects by increasing the roles of T cells and NK cell in porcine.