Access

Letters to Nature

Nature 389, 96-100 (4 September 1997) | doi:10.1038/38028; Received 27 May 1997; Accepted 3 July 1997

Structure of the inhibitory receptor for human natural killer cells resembles haematopoietic receptors

Qing R. Fan1,2, Lidia Mosyak1,2, Christine C. Winter3, Nicolai Wagtmann3, Eric O. Long3 & Don C. Wiley

  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts02138, USA
  2. Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12441 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Maryland20852, USA
  3. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Don C. Wiley Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to D.C.W. (e-mail: Email: wiley@crystal.harvard.edu). Coordinates will be deposited in the Brookhaven Data base and are available now from Q.R.F.(e-mail:Email: fan@crystal.harvard.edu).

Abnormal cells deficient in class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression are lysed by a class of lymphocytes called natural killer (NK) cells1. This lysis provides a defence against pathogens and tumour cells that downregulate MHC expression to avoid an MHC-restricted, T-cell immune response.