Abstract
The liver is considered a preferential tissue for NK cells residency. In humans, almost 50% of all intrahepatic lymphocytes are NK cells that are strongly imprinted in a liver-specific manner and show a broad spectrum of cellular heterogeneity. Hepatic NK (he-NK) cells play key roles in tuning liver immune response in both physiological and pathological conditions. Therefore, there is a pressing need to comprehensively characterize human he-NK cells to better understand the related mechanisms regulating their effector-functions within the dynamic balance between immune-tolerance and immune-surveillance. This is of particular relevance in the liver that is the only solid organ whose parenchyma is constantly challenged on daily basis by millions of foreign antigens drained from the gut. Therefore, the present review summarizes our current knowledge on he-NK cells in the light of the latest discoveries in the field of NK cell biology and clinical relevance.
Highlights
The liver is the largest solid organ in our body receiving every day more than 2,000 liters of blood from dual blood supply
Liver immune compartment consist in diverse innate populations such as Natural Killer (NK) cells, Natural Killer T (NKT) cells, gamma delta T cells, and adaptive lymphocytes, such as αβ T cells and B cells [1, 3]
An additional NK cell subset identified on the basis of CD56 and CD16 surface expression is represented by anergic CD56neg/CD16pos (CD56neg) cells that are present at very low frequency under physiologic conditions, while pathologically expanded during the course of several disorders, such as viral infections and autoimmune diseases [20, 21]
Summary
The liver is the largest solid organ in our body receiving every day more than 2,000 liters of blood from dual blood supply. An additional NK cell subset identified on the basis of CD56 and CD16 surface expression is represented by anergic CD56neg/CD16pos (CD56neg) cells that are present at very low frequency under physiologic conditions, while pathologically expanded during the course of several disorders, such as viral infections and autoimmune diseases [20, 21].
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