AI Article Synopsis

  • The study investigates the differences between NK cells from the liver and those from peripheral blood in the context of liver inflammation and cirrhosis.
  • Researchers analyzed samples from patients undergoing liver transplantation or resections, finding that cirrhotic livers contained a distinct type of NK cells, specifically enriched for CD49a+.
  • This CD49a+ NK cell subset showed potential for high growth in vitro when exposed to low levels of IL-2, indicating their functional significance in the diseased liver environment.

Article Abstract

The recruitment and retention of Natural Killer (NK) cells in the liver are thought to play an important role during hepatotropic infections and liver cirrhosis. The aims of this study were to determine differences between liver-derived and peripheral blood-derived NK cells in the context of liver inflammation and cirrhosis. We conducted a prospective dual-center cross-sectional study in patients undergoing liver transplantation or tumor-free liver resections, in which both liver tissue and peripheral blood samples were obtained from each consenting study participants. Intrahepatic lymphocytes and PBMCs were stained, fixed and analyzed by flow cytometry. Our results showed that, within cirrhotic liver samples, intrahepatic NK cells were particularly enriched for CD49a+ NK cells when compared to tumor-free liver resection samples. CD49a+ liver-derived NK cells included populations of cells expressing CD25, CD34 and CXCR3. Moreover, CD49a+CD25+ liver-derived NK cells exhibited high proliferative capacity in vitro in response to low doses of IL-2. Our study identified a specific subset of CD49a+CD25+ NK cells in cirrhotic livers bearing functional features of proliferation.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549915PMC
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0182532PLOS

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