Molecular mechanisms of natural killer cell regulation.
Natural Killer (NK) cells are important for early immune reactions against viral infections and cancer. They are regulated by a highly redundant system of different activating and inhibitory receptors. Here we summarize our current understanding about the regulation of these cells and describe how mathematical modeling and systems biology approaches can help to shed some light on the complex regulatory network that governs NK cell reactivity.
Institute for Immunology, University Heidelberg, INF 305, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany, and Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors-IfADo, Ardeystrasse 67, 44139 Dortmund, Germany. watzl@uni-hd.de
Carsten
C
Watzl
Doris
D
Urlaub
D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation