Skip Navigation



International Immunology Advance Access published online on July 1, 2008
International Immunology, doi:10.1093/intimm/dxn073
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Marcenaro, E.
Right arrow Articles by Moretta, A.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Marcenaro, E.
Right arrow Articles by Moretta, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Japanese Society for Immunology. 2008. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Human NK cells directly recognize Mycobacterium bovis via TLR2 and acquire the ability to kill monocyte-derived DC

Emanuela Marcenaro1, Bruna Ferranti1, Michela Falco2, Lorenzo Moretta1,2,3 and Alessandro Moretta1,3

1 Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università di Genova, Genova, Italy
2 Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genova, Italy
3 Centro di Eccellenza per la Ricerca Biomedica, Genova, Italy

Correspondence to: Correspondence to: A. Moretta; E-mail: alemoret{at}unige.it

NK cells are important players of the early innate defense against various pathogens. In this study, we investigated the interaction between human NK cells and Mycobacterium bovis [bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG)] and we determined whether and how such an interaction might impact on NK cell activation, cytokine production and cytotoxicity. We show that highly purified NK cells, upon short-term co-culture with BCG, expressed activation markers including CD69 and CD25. Moreover, these NK cells released IFN-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha and killed more efficiently different targets including monocyte-derived immature dendritic cell. All these functions were strongly up-regulated in the presence of exogenous IL-12. Although more efficient responses were detected in NK cell populations displaying an NCRbright phenotype, no direct evidence of an involvement of triggering NK receptors in BCG recognition could be obtained. On the other hand, anti-toll-like receptor (TLR)2 mAb inhibited NK cell responses to BCG, suggesting that NK cells may express a functional TLR2, which plays a role in their mechanism of direct BCG recognition. Taken together, these data suggest that BCG, by inducing simultaneous activation of NK and antigen-presenting cells via their ‘shared’ TLR2, can promote efficient bidirectional NK–dendritic cell interactions necessary for subsequent priming of Th1 responses.

Keywords: cytokine release, cytotoxicity, Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette–Guérin, NK cells, toll-like receptors

Transmitting editor: E. Vivier

Received 1 April 2008, accepted 5 June 2008.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.