Cisplatin has been the most promising single chemotherapeutic agent usedagainst head and neck squamous cell cancer to date. However, dose-related toxicity has been one of the major limiting factors in cisplatin-based therapies, because high doses are required for obtaining a significant antitumor effect. To face the challenge of this limiting factor, a novel interleukin 2 (IL-2)-based combinati...

2B4 (CD244) and its ligand, CD48, are expressed on all natural killer (NK) cells. In studies using 2B4-deficient, CD48-deficient, or wild-type NK cells with blocking antibodies, we found that in the absence of 2B4-CD48 interactions, activated murine NK cells kill each other. We also show that NK-NK fratricide in the absence of 2B4-CD48 interaction is dependent on perforin both in vitro and in v...

Natural killer cells are well known to mediate anti-leukemic responses in myeloid leukemia but their role in myelodysplastic syndromes is not well understood. Here, in a cohort of newly diagnosed patients (n=75), widespread structural and functional natural killer cell defects were identified. One subgroup of patients (13%) had a selective deficiency of peripheral natural killer cells (count <1...

Precision Drug Delivery In article number 2206989, Yu Tao, Mingqiang Li, Xuesi Chen, and co-workers report a membrane-fusogenic liposome to precisely convey two glycan-engineering drugs onto the cell membrane into cytoplasm for physical modification of natural-killer-cell-activating glycans biological inhibition immunosuppressing glycans, respectively, thus sufficiently arousing natural killer ...

CD226 is one of the main activating receptors on natural killer cells, and it can induce cytotoxicity to target cells through interaction with its ligands CD155 or CD112. CD226 is also involved in T cell differentiation, activation, and cytotoxicity. The expression of CD226 on natural killer cells and T cells can be regulated by cytokines and chemical stimuli; however, the mechanism of the regu...

Human natural killer (NK) cells express several inhibitory and non-inhibitory NK receptors per cell. Understanding the expression patterns of these receptor genes in individual cells is important to understanding their function. Using a single-cell reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, we analysed the expression of nine NK receptor genes in 38 resting CD56+ NK cells f...

Accumulating evidence indicates natural killer (NK) cells play crucial roles in successful pregnancy. To investigate whether the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) gene polymorphism and the corresponding specific HLA ligands in parent couples possessing a susceptibility to unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), we searched 73 pairs of childless couples with three or more ...

Natural killer (NK) cells have been implicated in early immune responses against certain viruses, including cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV causes downregulation of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression in infected cells; however, it has been proposed that a class I MHC homolog encoded by CMV, UL18, may act as a surrogate ligand to prevent NK cell lysis of CMV-infected cells. In ...

BACKGROUND Natural killer (NK) cells express killer immunoglobulin-like (KIR) inhibitory receptors, which recognize certain HLA class I molecules (KIR ligands), and stimulatory receptors such as FcgammaRIII. The purpose of this study was to test the possible influence of inhibitory KIR signaling on antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC) mediated by allogeneic NK cells against breast cancer...