Natural killer cells also have a memory function
One third of the cytotoxic killer cells in the liver as a potential therapeutic target

Date:
October 19, 2020
Source:
Medical University of Vienna
Summary:
Good news for the human immune system: researchers have managed to
ascribe an immunological memory function to a subset of cytotoxic
NK cells, which have hitherto been regarded as antigen-non-specific.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Good news for the human immune system: researchers from MedUni Vienna's Departments of Dermatology and Surgery have managed to ascribe an
immunological memory function to a subset of cytotoxic NK cells, which
have hitherto been regarded as antigen-non-specific. The researchers found under the leadership of Georg Stary, who is also Co-Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases and affiliated
with the CeMM (Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian
Academy of Sciences) that around one third of all human liver NK cells
can remember viruses and therefore respond specifically to them. These
cells are therefore an interesting target for prophylactic use in the
human immune system in the fight against infections and viruses.


==========================================================================
NK cells are natural cytotoxic killer cells in human blood and are a type
of lymphocyte, a subgroup of white blood cells or leukocytes. They are
able to identify and kill abnormal cells such as tumour cells or virally infected cells (apoptosis). Up until now, NK cells have been regarded
as having no memory function, meaning that they are unable to kill on an "antigen-specific" basis but are only able to react afresh each time to
viruses and sources of infection in a non-specific way.

In the study recently published in the top journal Science Immunology,
the MedUni Vienna scientists found that there is a subset of NK cells in
the liver -- the organ which is generally regarded as a large reservoir
for NK cells - - that is able to fight infections such as hepatitis
A and B and to remember them. This subset also exhibits a unique gene expression profile that is different from that of other NK cell groups.

"Our study results show that this particular subset of NK cells mediates effective antigen-specific processes. This subset of NK cells could
therefore be a suitable candidate for specific, therapeutic and also prophylactic vaccination strategies," summarises Stary. Healthy people
have around 5 -- 15% of NK cells in their blood, whereby the liver
acts as a reservoir for these cells. As a next step, the authors are investigating the role of these NK cells in the course of infectious
diseases. They also want to explore whether these NK cells could
additionally take over missing memory functions in patients with rare
diseases with immunodeficiencies affecting T and B lymphocytes.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Medical_University_of_Vienna. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Victoria Stary, Ram Vinay Pandey, Johanna Strobl, Lisa Kleissl,
Patrick
Starlinger, David Pereyra, Wolfgang Weninger, Gottfried F. Fischer,
Christoph Bock, Matthias Farlik, Georg Stary. A discrete subset
of epigenetically primed human NK cells mediates antigen-specific
immune responses. Science Immunology, 2020; 5 (52): eaba6232 DOI:
10.1126/ sciimmunol.aba6232 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201019103453.htm

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