Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct;89(7):803-11.
doi: 10.1038/icb.2010.171. Epub 2011 Feb 1.

CD27-deficient mice show normal NK-cell differentiation but impaired function upon stimulation

Veerle De Colvenaer  1 , Sylvie Taveirne, Maarten Delforche, Magda De Smedt, Bart Vandekerckhove, Tom Taghon, Louis Boon, Jean Plum, Georges Leclercq
Affiliations

CD27-deficient mice show normal NK-cell differentiation but impaired function upon stimulation

Veerle De Colvenaer et al. Immunol Cell Biol. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the first line defense against tumors, parasites and virus-infected cells. Therefore, factors that control NK-cell numbers and their function are important. CD27 is constitutively expressed on NK cells and its expression correlates with sequential phases in NK-cell development, discriminating phenotypically and functionally different subsets within the NK-cell population. Although CD27 has been described to have an important regulatory role in effector and memory T and B lymphocytes, its role in NK-cell biology remains to be addressed. In this study, we used CD27(-/-) mice to investigate the role of CD27 in NK-cell development and function, both during the resting state and upon stimulation. The results show that NK-cell numbers are not impaired in CD27(-/-) mice. Moreover, CD27(-/-) NK cells reach full phenotypic maturity, evidenced by normal expression of CD49b, CD43 and CD11b. Expression of activating receptors is unaltered, whereas expression of several inhibitory receptors is increased. Cytotoxicity and interferon-γ production by NK cells from CD27(-/-) mice in the resting state are normal. However, upon in vivo anti-CD40- or poly-I:C-mediated activation, or in vitro interleukin-15 priming plus anti-NKp46 stimulation, the absence of CD27 results in decreased cytolytic activity and cytokine production by spleen and liver NK cells. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that CD27 is dispensable for the development of functional NK cells. However, upon stimulation of NK cells, CD27 displays an important role in their activation and functionality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources