Natural killer cell distribution and trafficking in normal and neoplastic human tissues
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1
Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Italy
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2
University of Messina, Italy
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3
University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
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4
University of Genoa, Italy
Although natural killer (NK) cells have been detected in various lymphoid and non-lymphoid organs in mice, limited data are available regarding the distribution and trafficking of NK cells among human solid organs. To increase the current knowledge regarding the presence of NK cells in both healthy and pathological conditions, we analyzed a wide array of normal as well as neoplastic tissues derived from different human compartments. We found that NK cells were broadly distributed in most solid tissues, although, in general, the amount of NK cells significantly varied depending on the tissue/organ analyzed. Interestingly, NK cell distribution appeared to be subset-specific since some tissues were preferentially populated by CD56brightperforinlow NK cells while, others by the CD56dimperforinhigh cytotoxic counterpart. Accordingly, the gene expression level of chemotactic factors in the tissues analyzed matched the expression of chemokine receptors in the NK cell subsets infiltrating the tissues. Remarkably, the chemokine expression pattern of many human tissues resulted modified after neoplastic transformation. As a result, the relative proportion of the NK cell subsets infiltrating the tissues was different, in most cases toward a tumor- infiltrating NK cell population enriched in CD56brightperforinlow cells. Besides solid tissues, a CD3neg CD56bright NKp46+ cell population was also detected in seroma fluids, which represents an accrual of human afferent lymph, suggesting that NK cells might leave peripheral solid tissues. Overall, our results support the notion that distinct subsets of NK cells populate, and recirculate through, the majority of human peripheral tissues driven by organ-specific chemokine expression patterns.
Keywords:
NK cells,
Human Tissue,
Chemokines,
trafficking,
tumours
Conference:
15th International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Milan, Italy, 22 Aug - 27 Aug, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Abstract
Topic:
Innate immunity
Citation:
Carrega
P,
Bonaccorsi
I,
Di Carlo
E,
Mingari
M,
Moretta
L and
Ferlazzo
G
(2013). Natural killer cell distribution and trafficking in normal and neoplastic human tissues.
Front. Immunol.
Conference Abstract:
15th International Congress of Immunology (ICI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fimmu.2013.02.01015
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Received:
29 Jun 2013;
Published Online:
22 Aug 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Paolo Carrega, Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa, Italy, pcarrega@unime.it