Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes that play an important role in the immune response to infection and malignancy. Recent studies in mice have shown that stimulation of NK cells with cytokines or in the context of a viral infection results in memory-like properties. We hypothesized that human NK cells exhibit such memory-like properties with an enhanced recall response after cytokine preactivation. In the present study, we show that human NK cells preactivated briefly with cytokine combinations including IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 followed by a 7- to 21-day rest have enhanced IFN-γ production after restimulation with IL-12 + IL-15, IL-12 + IL-18, or K562 leukemia cells. This memory-like phenotype was retained in proliferating NK cells. In CD56(dim) NK cells, the memory-like IFN-γ response was correlated with the expression of CD94, NKG2A, NKG2C, and CD69 and a lack of CD57 and KIR. Therefore, human NK cells have functional memory-like properties after cytokine activation, which provides a novel rationale for integrating preactivation with combinations of IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 into NK cell immunotherapy strategies.
The bacillus Calmette-Guérin BCG vaccine (Mycobacterium bovis) is primarily used to prevent tuberculosis (TB) infections but has wide-ranging immunogenic effects. One of its most notable properties is its ability to induce trained immunity, a memory-like response in innate immune cells such as macrophages. Through targeted analyses of well-established histone marks, prior research has shown that these changes are generated through epigenetic modification.
During persistent antigen stimulation, PD-1 CD8 T cells are maintained by progenitor exhausted PD-1 TCF-1 CD8 T cells (Tpex). Tpex respond to PD-1 blockade, and regulation of Tpex differentiation into more functional Tex is of major interest for cancer immunotherapies. Tpex express high levels of Inducible Costimulator (ICOS), but the role of ICOS for PD-1 CD8 T cell responses has not been addressed.
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Pharmacology and Safety Evaluation of Chinese Materia Medica, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, China.
Immune memory has been expanded to group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s), but the cellular and molecular bases remain incompletely understood. Based on house dust mite (HDM)-induced mice asthma models and human samples, we applied flow cytometry, parabiosis, in vivo imaging and adoptive transplantation to confirm the persistence, migration and function of CD45lineageCD90.2NK1.
Cluster of Excellence livMatS @ FIT-Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies, University of Freiburg, 79110 Freiburg, Germany.
Hygroscopic seed-scale movement is responsible for the weather-adaptive opening and closing of pine cones and for facilitating seed dispersal under favorable environmental conditions. Although this phenomenon has long been investigated, many involved processes are still not fully understood. To gain a deeper mechanical and structural understanding of the cone and its functional units, namely the individual seed scales, we have investigated their desiccation- and wetting-induced movement processes in a series of analyses and manipulative experiments.
Both the miniaturization of transistor components and the ongoing investigation of material systems with potential for quantum information processing have significantly increased current interest of researchers in semiconducting inorganic nanotubes. Here we report on an additional outstanding aspect of these nanostructures, namely the intrinsic coupling of electronic and mechanical properties. We observe electronic and morphology changes in a single MoS nanotube, exposed to charge injections by means of an atomic-force-microscopy tip.
