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Natural killer cells and cancer: regulation by the killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIR).
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Purdy, Amanda K. Campbell, Kerry S. |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Abstract | Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune effector cells that make up approximately 10-15% of the peripheral blood lymphocytes in humans and are primarily involved in immunosurveillance to eliminate transformed and virally-infected cells. They were originally defined by their ability to spontaneously eliminate rare cells lacking expression of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I) self molecules, which is commonly referred to as "missing self" recognition. The molecular basis for missing self recognition emerges from the expression of MHC-I-specific inhibitory receptors on the NK cell surface that tolerize NK cells toward normal MHC-I-expressing cells. By lacking inhibitory receptor ligands, tumor cells or virus-infected cells that have down-modulated surface MHC-I expression become susceptible to attack by NK cells. Killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIR; CD158) constitute a family of MHC-I binding receptors that plays a major role in regulating the activation thresholds of NK cells and some T cells in humans. Here, we review the multiple levels of KIR diversity that contribute to the generation of a highly varied NK cell repertoire and explain how this diversity can influence susceptibility to a variety of diseases, including cancer. We further describe strategies by which KIR can be manipulated therapeutically to treat cancer, through the exploitation of KIR/MHC-I ligand mismatch to potentiate hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and the use of KIR blockade to enhance tumor cell killing. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.4161/cbt.8.23.10455 |
| PubMed reference number | 19923897 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 8 |
| Issue Number | 23 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.lungca.org/index.php?journal=01&op=download&page=article&path%5B%5D=10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2010.07.14&path%5B%5D=1611 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.4161/cbt.8.23.10455 |
| Journal | Cancer biology & therapy |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
