Mechanisms of natural killer cell-mediated cellular cytotoxicity.

Abstract

Cellular cytotoxicity, the ability to kill other cells, is an important effector mechanism of the immune system to combat viral infections and cancer. Cytotoxic Tcells and natural killer (NK) cells are the major mediators of this activity. Here, we summarize the cytotoxic mechanisms of NKcells. NKcells can kill virally infected of transformed cells via the directed release of lytic granules or by inducing death receptor-mediated apoptosis via the expression of Fas ligand or TRAIL. The biogenesis of perforin and granzymes, the major components of lytic granules, is a highly regulated process to prevent damage during the synthesis of these cytotoxic molecules. Additionally, NKcells have developed several strategies to protect themselves from the cytotoxic activity of granular content upon degranulation. While granule-mediated apoptosis is a fast process, death receptor-mediated cytotoxicity requires more time. Current data suggest that these 2 cytotoxic mechanisms are regulated during the serial killing activity of NKcells. As many modern approaches of cancer immunotherapy rely on cellular cytotoxicity for their effectiveness, unraveling these pathways will be important to further progress these therapeutic strategies.