title: Subsets of human natural killer cells and their regulatory effects.
abstract: Human natural killer (NK) cells have distinct functions as NK(tolerant) , NK(cytotoxic) and NK(regulatory) cells and can be divided into different subsets based on the relative expression of the surface markers CD27 and CD11b. CD27⁺ NK cells, which are abundant cytokine producers, are numerically in the minority in human peripheral blood but constitute the large population of NK cells in cord blood, spleen, tonsil and decidua tissues. Recent data suggest that these NK cells may have immunoregulatory properties under certain conditions. In this review, we will focus on these new NK cell subsets and discuss how regulatory NK cells may serve as rheostats or sentinels in controlling inflammation and maintaining immune homeostasis in various organs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China; Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Binqing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D039481:CD11b Antigen / Q000097:blood; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D018127:Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7 / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D039481:CD11b Antigen; D016207:Cytokines; C509295:ITGAM protein, human; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D018127:Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor Superfamily, Member 7
keywords: cell differentiation; human natural killer cells