Abstract
Historically, human NK cells have been identified as CD3−CD56+CD16± lymphocytes. More recently it has been established that CD57 expression defines functionally discrete sub-populations of NK cells. On T cells, CD57 expression has been regarded as a marker of terminal differentiation and (perhaps wrongly) of anergy and senescence. Similarly, CD57 expression seems to identify the final stages of peripheral NK cell maturation; its expression increases with age and is associated with chronic infections, particularly human cytomegalovirus infection. However, CD57+ NK cells are highly cytotoxic and their presence seems to be beneficial in a number of non-communicable diseases. The purpose of this article is to review our current understanding of CD57 expression as a marker of NK cell function and disease prognosis, as well as to outline areas for further research.
Highlights
Human NK cells have been identified as CD3−CD56+CD16± lymphocytes
These studies, together with experiments in Rag2−/− γcR−/− mice reconstituted with human hematopoietic stem cells and treated with IL-15 [30], and the observation that fetal and newborn NK cells lack CD57 [31], indicate that CD57+ NK cells differentiate from CD56dimCD57− NK cells in an irreversible process with highly stable expression of CD57 likely being the final step in maturation [30, 32]
CD57+ NK cells appear to be a stable sub-population, increasing with age and exposure to pathogens and their presence is consistently associated with better outcomes in cancer and autoimmune disease
Summary
Increased NK cell activity and increased numbers of CD57+ and CD16+ NK cells in bone marrow Sorskaar et al [57] associated with complete remission. Absence/low number of CD57+ NK cells in tumor tissue (by immunohistochemistry) associated with relapse
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