Mechanisms of natural killer cell‐mediated cellular cytotoxicity

Cellular cytotoxicity, the ability to kill other cells, is an important effector mechanism of the immune system to combat viral infections and cancer. Cytotoxic T cells and natural killer (NK) cells are the major mediators of this activity. Here, we summarize the cytotoxic mechanisms of NK cells. NK...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of leukocyte biology Vol. 105; no. 6; pp. 1319 - 1329
Main Authors: Prager, Isabel, Watzl, Carsten
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Oxford University Press 01.06.2019
Subjects:
Animals
Apoptosis
Cancer
Cancer immunotherapy
Chemical synthesis
Cytotoxicity
Damage prevention
death receptors
Degranulation
Effector cells
Endopeptidases
Fas Ligand Protein - immunology
FasL protein
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic - immunology
Granular materials
granzyme
Humans
Immune system
Immunity, Cellular
Immunotherapy
Killer Cells, Natural - immunology
Killer Cells, Natural - pathology
Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes T
Natural killer cells
Neoplasm Proteins - immunology
Neoplasms - immunology
Neoplasms - pathology
Perforin
Receptors
Serine proteinase
Toxicity
TRAIL protein
Transformed cells
Virus Diseases - immunology
Virus Diseases - pathology
apoptosis
perforin
granzyme
degranulation
death receptors
ISSN:0741-5400, 1938-3673, 1938-3673
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Cellular cytotoxicity, the ability to kill other cells, is an important effector mechanism of the immune system to combat viral infections and cancer. Cytotoxic T cells and natural killer (NK) cells are the major mediators of this activity. Here, we summarize the cytotoxic mechanisms of NK cells. NK cells 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, NK cells 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 NK cells. 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. Review on the different pathways and mechanisms used by Natural Killer cells to kill other cells.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ObjectType-Review-3
content type line 23
ISSN:0741-5400
1938-3673
1938-3673
DOI:10.1002/JLB.MR0718-269R