Interaction between natural killer cells and regulatory T cells: perspectives for immunotherapy

Regulatory T (Treg) cells and natural killer (NK) cells are key players in the immune system. The interaction between these two cell types has been reported to be beneficial in healthy conditions such as pregnancy. However, in the case of certain pathologies such as autoimmune diseases and cancer this interaction can become detrimental, as Treg cells have been described to suppress NK cells and in particular to impair NK cell effector functions. This review aims to discuss the recent information on the interaction between Treg cells and NK cells under healthy and pathologic conditions, to describe the specific conditions in which this interaction takes place, the effect of Treg cells on hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and the consequences of this interaction on the optimization of immunotherapeutic protocols.