Bulk RNA sequencing of CD57 and NKG2C expressing and non-expressing NK cell subpopulations from human peripheral blood
This study presents bulk RNA-sequencing data generated from primary human natural killer (NK) cells isolated from peripheral blood of healthy donors. NK cells were FACS-sorted into four distinct subpopulations based on surface expression of CD57 and NKG2C: (1) CD57+NKG2C+, (2) CD57+NKG2C-, (3) CD57-NKG2C+, and (4) CD57-NKG2C-. A total of four healthy donors were included in this study. For three donors, all four subpopulations were successfully sorted and sequenced. For the fourth donor, only two subpopulations (CD57+NKG2C+ and CD57-NKG2C+) were obtained due to limited cell numbers. The primary objective of this study is to characterize the transcriptional landscapes of these NK cell subsets to delineate the molecular signatures associated with CD57 and NKG2C expression. By comparing the global gene expression profiles across these four subsets, this dataset aims to identify differentially expressed genes and pathways related to NK cell maturation, activation, cytotoxicity, homing, and metabolic programming. These findings provide critical insights into the functional heterogeneity of human NK cell subsets and may inform the development of subset-targeted immunotherapeutic strategies.