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Iron metabolism

Ironman training for NK cells

Nature Immunology volume 24, pages 1599–1601 (2023)Cite this article

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IRF4 is required for the differentiation of T cells, B cells and some myeloid cells. A new study finds that IRF4 is upregulated following natural killer (NK) cell activation and is required for the differentiation and expansion of virus-specific NK cells by controlling nutrient acquisition, including iron uptake.

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Fig. 1: How iron uptake determines NK cell function.

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Acknowledgements

N.D.H. is supported by project grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (GNT1124784, GNT1066770, GNT1057852, GNT1124907, GNT1057812, GNT1049407, GNT1027472 and GNT1184615) and an NHMRC Investigator Fellowship (GNT1195296).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Nicholas D. Huntington

  2. oNKo-Innate, Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia

    Nicholas D. Huntington

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  1. Nicholas D. Huntington
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Correspondence to Nicholas D. Huntington.

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Competing interests

N.D.H. reports stock or other ownership in oNKo-Innate, serves on an advisory board for Bristol Myers Squibb and is an inventor on multiple licensed patents concerning cytokine checkpoints in NK cell therapies and IL-15 receptor agonists.

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Huntington, N.D. Ironman training for NK cells. Nat Immunol 24, 1599–1601 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01626-7

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