Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2022

Identifier

DOI: 10.1111/cts.13208; PMCID: PMC9099129

Abstract

The roles that natural killer (NK) cells play in liver disease and transplantation remain ill-defined. Reports on the matter are often contradictory, and the mechanisms elucidated are complex and dependent on the context of the model tested. Moreover, NK cell attributes, such as receptor protein expression and function differ among species, make study of primate or rodent transplant models challenging. Recent insights into NK function and NK-mediated therapy in the context of cancer therapy may prove applicable to transplantation. Of specific interest are immune checkpoint molecules and the mechanisms by which they modulate NK cells in the tumor micro-environment. In this review, we summarize NK cell populations in the peripheral blood and liver, and we explore the data regarding the expression and function of immune checkpoint molecules on NK cells. We also hypothesize about the roles they could play in liver transplantation and discuss how they might be harnessed therapeutically in transplant sciences.

Journal Title

Clin Transl Sci

Volume

15

Issue

5

First Page

1091

Last Page

1103

MeSH Keywords

Animals; Humans; Immune Checkpoint Proteins; Immune Tolerance; Killer Cells, Natural; Liver Transplantation; Neoplasms; Tumor Microenvironment

Keywords

Immune Checkpoint Proteins; Immune Tolerance; Natural Killer Cells; Liver Transplantation; Neoplasms; Tumor Microenvironment

Comments

Grant support

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Publisher's Link: https://ascpt.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cts.13208

Download

Share

COinS