Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in the defense against tumors. Peripheral blood monocytes are routinely assayed for the activity of NK cells by using a 4hr-51Cr release assay, and subsets of the NK cells are determined with monoclonal antibodies directed against surface phenotypes of the NK cells. We reviewed associations of demographic characteristics and individual lifestyles wi...

BACKGROUND Natural killer (NK) cells are important effector cells in the defense against tumors. The present study retrospectively examines the intratumoral NK cells in primary resected esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the correlation between the patient' outcome and the intratumoral NK cells infiltration. METHODS Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze the intratumoral NK cell ...

Exosomes are released by various cells, including natural killer (NK) cells and transport signaling molecules for the intercellular communication. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), also known as primary liver cancer, is often inoperable difficult to accurate diagnosis. Notably, prognosis underlying mechanisms of HCC not fully understood. Exosomes-derived NK (NK-exos) express unique cytotoxic prot...

To systematically define molecular features in human tumor cells that determine their degree of sensitivity to allogeneic natural killer (NK) cells, we quantified the NK cell responsiveness hundreds molecularly annotated ‘DNA-barcoded’ solid lines multiplexed format and applied genome-scale CRISPR-based gene-editing screens several lines, functionally interrogate which genes regulate response c...

The CD94 transmembrane-anchored glycoprotein forms disulfide-bonded heterodimers with the NKG2A subunit to form an inhibitory receptor or with the NKG2C or NKG2E subunits to assemble a receptor complex with activating DAP12 signaling proteins. CD94 receptors expressed on human and mouse NK cells and T cells have been proposed to be important in NK cell tolerance to self, play an important role ...

Natural killer (NK) cells are regulated through the coordinated functions of activating and inhibitory receptors. These receptors can act during the initial engagement of an NK cell with a target cell, or in subsequent NK cell engagements to maintain tolerance. Notably, each individual possesses a sizable minority-population of NK cells that are devoid of inhibitory receptors that recognize the...

Dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer (NK) cells are essential components of the innate immune system and have a central role in initiation and regulation of adaptive immune responses. During the early critical immune activities, DCs and NK cells interact and reciprocally regulate each other via cell-cell contact. The molecular mediators of the DC-NK-cell crosstalk are largely undefined. In ...

Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the innate immune system and recognize virus-infected cells as well as tumor cells. Conflicting data about the beneficial or even detrimental role of NK cells in different infectious diseases have been described previously. While the type of pathogen strongly influences NK cell functionality, less is known about how the infection dose influences the quality...