Abstract
SPECIALTY GRAND CHALLENGE article Front. Immunol., 03 June 2011Sec. NK and Innate Lymphoid Cell Biology volume 2 - 2011 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2011.00018
Highlights
The acquisition of cell cytotoxicity during evolution has been associated with the development of highly sophisticated and robust mechanisms that control the initiation of the cytolytic processes and avoid tissue damage
By interacting with MHC class I molecules that are constitutively expressed by most healthy cells in steady-state conditions but that may be lost upon stress, inhibitory MHC class I receptors provide a way for natural killer (NK) cells to ensure tolerance to self while allowing toxicity toward stressed cells
In addition to the recognition of microbial molecules by a variety of innate immune receptors, the so-called “infectious non-self recognition,” it has been shown that some receptors of innate immune cells can detect internal changes, leading to the concept of “stressinduced self recognition” (Bauer et al, 1999; Gasser et al, 2005; Guerra et al, 2008; Raulet and Guerra, 2009). This mode of detection is based on the recognition of molecules whose expression is barely detectable in steady-state conditions, but induced upon various forms of stress.A prototypical example of this mode of detection is illustrated by the activation of NK cells via engagement of the NKG2D receptor, which interacts with self-molecules selectively up-regulated on stressed cells, such as tumor cells
Summary
The acquisition of cell cytotoxicity during evolution has been associated with the development of highly sophisticated and robust mechanisms that control the initiation of the cytolytic processes and avoid tissue damage. These data have been instrumental in defining several immune recognition strategies and in the emergence of the “dynamic equilibrium concept.” The NK cell detection system includes a variety of cell surface activating and inhibitory receptors, the engagement of which regulates NK cell activities.
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