title: Liver-resident NK cells confer adaptive immunity in skin-contact inflammation.
abstract: Liver natural killer (NK) cells were recently reported to possess memory-like properties in contact hypersensitivity (CHS) models. However, the phenotype and origin of these "memory" NK cells cannot be distinguished from other NK cell subpopulations. Here, we define the transcriptional, phenotypic, and functional features of liver NK cell subsets and their roles in mediating CHS. Liver NK cells can be divided into two distinct subsets: CD49a+DX5- and CD49a-DX5+. Substantial transcriptional and phenotypic differences existed between liver CD49a+DX5- NK cells and other NK cell subsets. CD49a+DX5- NK cells possessed memory potential and conferred hapten-specific CHS responses upon hapten challenge. Importantly, CD49a+DX5- NK cells were liver resident and were present in the liver sinusoidal blood, but not the afferent and efferent blood of the liver. Moreover, they appeared to originate from hepatic hematopoietic progenitor/stem cells (HPCs/HSCs) but not from the bone marrow, and maintained their phenotypes in the steady state. Our findings of liver-resident NK cells shed new light on the acquisition of memory-like properties of NK cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Xiaojun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yonglin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dorothy K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sojka
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Wayne M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D056704:Adaptive Immunity; D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003877:Dermatitis, Contact / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D039423:Integrin alpha1 / Q000378:metabolism; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010227:Parabiosis; D010641:Phenotype; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; D039423:Integrin alpha1