Cytomegalovirus Infection Drives Avidity Selection of Natural Killer Cells. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The process of affinity maturation, whereby T and B cells bearing antigen receptors with optimal affinity to the relevant antigen undergo preferential expansion, is a key feature of adaptive immunity. Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes capable of "adaptive" responses after cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. However, whether NK cells are similarly selected on the basis of their avidity for cognate ligand is unknown. Here, we showed that NK cells with the highest avidity for the mouse CMV glycoprotein m157 were preferentially selected to expand and comprise the memory NK cell pool, whereas low-avidity NK cells possessed greater capacity for interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production. Moreover, we provide evidence for avidity selection occurring in human NK cells during human CMV infection. These results delineate how heterogeneity in NK cell avidity diversifies NK cell effector function during antiviral immunity, and how avidity selection might serve to produce the most potent memory NK cells.

publication date

  • May 15, 2019

Research

keywords

  • Cytomegalovirus
  • Cytomegalovirus Infections
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Killer Cells, Natural

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6614060

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85066318235

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.immuni.2019.04.009

PubMed ID

  • 31103381

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 50

issue

  • 6