Natural killer cell‐mediated contact sensitivity develops rapidly and depends on interferon‐α, interferon‐γ and interleukin‐12 |
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| Authors: | Monika Majewska‐Szczepanik Silke Paust Ulrich H von Andrian Philip W Askenase Marian Szczepanik |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Medical Biology, Jagiellonian University College of Medicine, , Kraków, Poland;2. Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, , Boston, MA, USA;3. The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, , Boston, MA, USA;4. Section of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, , New Haven, CT, USA |
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| Abstract: | Natural killer (NK) cell‐mediated contact sensitivity was recently described in mice. Here, we confirm NK cell‐mediated contact sensitivity (CS) in SCID and RAG1?/? mice but not in SCIDbeige mice, which have non‐functional NK cells that lack NK cell granules. NK cell‐mediated CS was transferred by liver mononuclear cells and the DX5+ fraction of liver cells, confirming that NK cells mediate CS in the absence of T and B cells. Participation of NKT cells and B‐1 cells was ruled out using Jα18?/? and JH?/? mice, respectively. Remarkably, NK cell‐mediated CS was observed just 1 hr after immunization and was detectable as early as 30 min after challenge. Further, we examined cytokine requirements for NK cell‐mediated CS, and found that liver mononuclear cells from interleukin‐12?/?, interferon‐γ?/? and interferon‐α receptor?/? donors fail to transfer NK cell‐mediated CS to naive hosts. Our studies clearly show that dinitrofluorobenzene sensitized NK cells mediate very rapid, antigen‐specific cell‐mediated immunity, with features of both innate and acquired immune responses. |
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| Keywords: | contact sensitivity cytokines liver mononuclear cells natural killer cells |
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