A failure to launch: fuelling cytokine secretion in iNKT cells.
In this issue of Immunity, Bezbradica et al., (2006) uncover an unsuspected role for the cytokine GM-CSF in the thymic development of invariant NKT cells, a role that licenses these cells to secrete effector cytokines upon activation in the periphery.
Locksley
Richard M
RM
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143-0795, USA.
D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*
D016207:Cytokines