Re-examining the origin and function of liver-resident NK cells R

• Autores: Hui Peng, Zhigang Tian
• Localización: Trends in immunology, ISSN 1471-4906, Vol. 36, Nº. 5, 2015, págs. 293-299
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Recent studies have identified a population of liver-resident innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that, based on the expression of certain phenotypic markers, were termed ‘liver-resident NK cells’ and considered to be a new subset of conventional natural killer (cNK) cells. However, different transcriptional networks control the development of liver-resident NK cells and cNK cells and, furthermore, these cells exhibit features that characterize mucosal ILC1s. Here, we review findings providing insight into the origin, phenotype, and function of liver-resident NK cells, and discuss these in the context of the current understanding of lineage relations of ILC subsets. We propose that the similarities between liver-resident NK cells and mucosal ILC1s should be considered when revising the categorization framework for these cells, and discuss implications of this revision for other tissue-specific NK cells.