The HLA-G cycle provides for both NK tolerance and immunity at the maternal-fetal interface.

The interaction of noncytotoxic decidual natural killer cells (dNK) and extravillous trophoblasts (EVT) at the maternal-fetal interface was studied. Confocal microscopy revealed that many dNK interact with a single large EVT. Filamentous projections from EVT enriched in HLA-G were shown to contact dNK, and may represent the initial stage of synapse formation. As isolated, 2.5% of dNK contained surface HLA-G. However, surface HLA-G-negative dNK contained internalized HLA-G. Activation of dNK resulted in the disappearance of internalized HLA-G in parallel with restoration of cytotoxicity. Surface HLA-G was reacquired by incubation with EVT. This HLA-G cycle of trogocytosis, endocytosis, degradation, and finally reacquisition provides a transient and localized acquisition of new functional properties by dNK upon interaction with EVT. Interruption of the cycle by activation of dNK by cytokines and/or viral products serves to ensure the NK control of virus infection at the interface, and is illustrated here by the response of dNK to human cytomegalo virus (HCMV)-infected decidual stromal cells. Thus, the HLA-G cycle in dNK can provide both for NK tolerance and antiviral immunity.

A distinct subset of human NK cells expressing HLA-DR expand in response to IL-2 and can aid immune responses to BCG.

Subsets of NK cells can have distinct functions. Here, we report that >25% of human peripheral blood NK cells express HLA-DR after culture with IL-2. This can be driven by an expansion of a small subset of NK cells expressing HLA-DR, in contrast to previous assumptions that HLA-DR is upregulated on previously negative cells. HLA-DR-expressing NK cells showed enhanced degranulation to susceptible target cells and expressed chemokine receptor CXCR3, which facilitated their enrichment following exposure to CXCL11/I-TAC. Suggesting HLA-DR-expressing NK cells have an important role in an immune response, stimulation of PBMCs with Mycobacterium bovis BCG (BCG) triggered expansion of this subset. Importantly, the magnitude of an individual's NK cell IFN-γ response triggered by BCG was associated with the initial frequency of HLA-DR-expressing NK cells in PBMCs. More directly indicating the importance of HLA-DR-expressing NK cells, enriching the frequency of this subset in PBMCs substantially augmented the IFN-γ response to BCG. Thus, HLA-DR expression marks a distinct subset of NK cells, present at low frequency in circulating blood but readily expanded by IL-2, that can play an important role during immune responses to BCG.

Multiple mechanisms downstream of TLR-4 stimulation allow expression of NKG2D ligands to facilitate macrophage/NK cell crosstalk.

The activating receptor NKG2D recognizes proteins that are not normally expressed at the surface of most cells but are expressed during a cellular "stress" response (e.g., upon induction of the DNA damage pathway). This establishes recognition of "induced self" as an important strategy for surveillance of infections or tumor transformation. However, NKG2D ligands can also be induced on human macrophages by TLR stimulation, which has been far less studied. In this paper, we clarify that LPS, which ligates TLR-4, preferentially upregulated MICA and not MICB; CL097, which ligates TLR-7/8, upregulated both MICA and MICB; and polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid, which ligates TLR-3, upregulated neither. To probe how LPS stimulation triggers MICA expression, we determined that the stability of MICA mRNA was much longer than that of MICB mRNA, but neither was changed by LPS stimulation. This finding suggests that increased levels of MICA mRNA following LPS stimulation resulted from increased transcription. However, it was not sufficient for surface protein expression, which was controlled posttranscriptionally via a separate pathway involving the ataxia telangiectasia mutated/ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related kinases. Moreover, LPS stimulation decreased expression of microRNAs (miRNA)--miR-17-5, miR-20a, and miR-93--which target MICA, implicating a novel role for miRNAs in NKG2D ligand expression. Thus, TLR stimulation allows expression of NKG2D ligands through multiple pathways, including downmodulation of specific miRNAs.

Cross-talk between T cells and NK cells generates rapid effector responses to Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.

Rapid cell-mediated immune responses, characterized by production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IFN-gamma, can inhibit intraerythrocytic replication of malaria parasites and thereby prevent onset of clinical malaria. In this study, we have characterized the kinetics and cellular sources of the very early IFN-gamma response to Plasmodium falciparum-infected RBCs among human PBMCs. We find that NK cells dominate the early (12-18 h) IFN-gamma response, that NK cells and T cells contribute equally to the response at 24 h, and that T cells increasingly dominate the response from 48 h onward. We also find that although gammadelta T cells can produce IFN-gamma in response to P. falciparum-infected RBCs, they are greatly outnumbered by alphabeta T cells, and thus, the majority of the IFN-gamma(+) T cells are alphabeta T cells and not gammadelta T cells; gammadelta T cells are, however, an important source of TNF. We have previously shown that NK cell responses to P. falciparum-infected RBCs require cytokine and contact-dependent signals from myeloid accessory cells. In this study, we demonstrate that NK cell IFN-gamma responses to P. falciparum-infected RBCs are also crucially dependent on IL-2 secreted by CD4(+) T cells in an MHC class II-dependent manner, indicating that the innate response to infection actually relies upon complex interactions between NK cells, T cells, and accessory cells. We conclude that activation of NK cells may be a critical function of IL-2-secreting CD4(+) T cells and that standard protocols for evaluation of Ag-specific immune responses need to be adapted to include assessment of NK cell activation as well as T cell-derived IL-2.

Natural killer cell signal integration balances synapse symmetry and migration.

Natural killer (NK) cells discern the health of other cells by recognising the balance of activating and inhibitory ligands expressed by each target cell. However, how the integration of activating and inhibitory signals relates to formation of the NK cell immune synapse remains a central question in our understanding of NK cell recognition. Here we report that ligation of LFA-1 on NK cells induced asymmetrical cell spreading and migration. In contrast, ligation of the activating receptor NKG2D induced symmetrical spreading of ruffled lamellipodia encompassing a dynamic ring of f-actin, concurrent with polarization towards a target cell and a "stop" signal. Ligation of both LFA-1 and NKG2D together resulted in symmetrical spreading but co-ligation of inhibitory receptors reverted NK cells to an asymmetrical migratory configuration leading to inhibitory synapses being smaller and more rapidly disassembled. Using micropatterned activating and inhibitory ligands, signals were found to be continuously and locally integrated during spreading. Together, these data demonstrate that NK cells spread to form large, stable, symmetrical synapses if activating signals dominate, whereas asymmetrical migratory "kinapses" are favoured if inhibitory signals dominate. This clarifies how the integration of activating and inhibitory receptor signals is translated to an appropriate NK cell response.