Human natural killer cells mediate adaptive immunity to viral antigens.

ABSTRACT: Adaptive immune responses are defined as antigen sensitization-dependent and antigen-specific responses leading to establishment of long-lived immunological memory. Although natural killer (NK) cells have traditionally been considered cells of the innate immune system, mounting evidence in mice and nonhuman primates warrants reconsideration of the existing paradigm that B and T cells are the sole mediators of adaptive immunity. However, it is currently unknown whether human NK cells can exhibit adaptive immune responses. We therefore tested whether human NK cells mediate adaptive immunity to virally encoded antigens using humanized mice and human volunteers. We found that human NK cells displayed vaccination-dependent, antigen-specific recall responses in vitro, when isolated from livers o

SUBMITTER: Nikzad R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6636344 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature