title: CD11b and CD27 reflect distinct population and functional specialization in human natural killer cells.
abstract: The identification of developmental stages in natural killer (NK) cells, especially in human NK cells, has lagged for decades. We characterize four novel populations defined by CD11b and CD27, which can represent the distinct stages of human NK cells from different tissues. Nearly all NK cells from peripheral blood are CD11b(+) CD27(-) populations whereas NK cells from cord blood have CD11b(+) CD27(-) and CD11b(+) CD27(+) populations. Interestingly, we have found large CD11b(-) CD27(-) populations of NK cells from deciduas. We also demonstrate that each population could be characterized by unique functional and phenotypic attributes. CD11b(-) CD27(-) NK cells display an immature phenotype and potential for differentiation. CD11b(-) CD27(+) and CD11b(+) CD27(+) NK cells show the best ability to secrete cytokines. CD11b(+) CD27(-) NK cells exhibit high cytolytic function. We demonstrate that human NK cells at different developmental stages have special functions and describe a new model of human NK cell differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, School of Life Sciences, University of Science & Technology of China, China.
authors.forename: Binqing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Fuyan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D039481:CD11b Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*; D018127:Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7 / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D039481:CD11b Antigen; D018127:Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7