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NK cell development in bone marrow and liver: site matters

Genes & Immunity volume 15, pages 584–587 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

The NKp46 protein is found on resting and activated natural killer (NK) cells and is involved in the recognition of malignant and infected cells. The expression of NKp46 is believed to precede that of DX5 in early NK cell development. We show that this is not the case in the bone marrow (BM). Here, NKp46 is predominantly expressed after DX5, whereas the liver harbors a subpopulation that expresses NKp46 but not DX5. NK cell precursors in the liver show much lower levels of Eomesodermin than NK cell precursors in the BM, although they express higher levels of granzymes and unlike the NK cell precursors in the BM are fully able to degranulate and produce interferon gamma (IFN-γ). The development of NK cells thus differs between the two organs. This needs to be considered when using NKp46 and DX5 as NK cell markers and when performing NK cell-specific gene deletion in Ncr1 transgenic mice.

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Acknowledgements

We thank P Kudweis and E Straka for their help and HJ Fehling for providing the Rosa-tdRFP mice. The work was supported by the FWF grant SFB F28 (VS, http://www.fwf.ac.at/en/projects/sfb.html).

Author Contributions

DG, EMP, MP-M, CS and AG performed the research and analyzed data; OM and VS provided reagents and/or analytic tools and analyzed data; DG, EMP, SC and VS designed the research and wrote the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. V Sexl and E M Putz: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    D Gotthardt, M Prchal-Murphy, V Sexl & E M Putz

  2. Molecular Immunology Division, Department of Medical Biology, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    C Seillet & S Carotta

  3. Department of Medical Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    C Seillet & S Carotta

  4. The Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology, The BioMedical Research Institute Israel Canada of the Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel

    A Glasner & O Mandelboim

  5. Department of New Therapeutic Concept Discoveries, Boehringer Ingelheim RCV, Vienna, Austria

    S Carotta

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  1. D Gotthardt
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  2. M Prchal-Murphy
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  3. C Seillet
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Correspondence to V Sexl or E M Putz.

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Gotthardt, D., Prchal-Murphy, M., Seillet, C. et al. NK cell development in bone marrow and liver: site matters. Genes Immun 15, 584–587 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2014.55

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/gene.2014.55

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