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Liver-resident NK cells and their potential functions

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 14, pages 890–894 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells represent a heterogeneous population of innate lymphocytes with phenotypically and functionally distinct subsets. In particular, recent studies have identified a unique subset of NK cells residing within the liver that are maintained as tissue-resident cells, confer antigen-specific memory responses and exhibit different phenotypical and developmental characteristics compared with conventional NK (cNK) cells. These findings have encouraged researchers to uncover tissue-resident NK cells at other sites, and detailed analyses have revealed that these tissue-resident NK cells share many similarities with liver-resident NK cells and tissue-resident memory T cells. Here, we present a brief historical perspective on the discovery of liver-resident NK cells and discuss their relationship to cNK cells and other emerging NK cell subsets and their potential functions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (#81761128013, 81571522, 91642105, 81361120388, 31300727, 91542114, 91442112, 91542000 and 81330071) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (973 Basic Science Project 2013CB944902).

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  1. Institute of Immunology and The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230027, Anhui, China

    Hui Peng & Rui Sun

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Correspondence to Hui Peng or Rui Sun.

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Peng, H., Sun, R. Liver-resident NK cells and their potential functions. Cell Mol Immunol 14, 890–894 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2017.72

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