The viral KSHV chemokine vMIP-II inhibits the migration of Naive and activated human NK cells by antagonizing two distinct chemokine receptors.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells able to rapidly kill virus-infected and tumor cells. Two NK cell populations are found in the blood; the majority (90%) expresses the CD16 receptor and also express the CD56 protein in intermediate levels (CD56(Dim) CD16(Pos)) while the remaining 10% are CD16 negative and express CD56 in high levels (CD56(Bright) CD16(Neg)). NK cells also reside in some tissues and traffic to various infected organs through the usage of different chemokines and chemokine receptors.