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
. 2018 May;19(5):453-463.
doi: 10.1038/s41590-018-0082-6. Epub 2018 Apr 9.

Peptide-specific recognition of human cytomegalovirus strains controls adaptive natural killer cells

Quirin Hammer  1 , Timo Rückert  1 , Eva Maria Borst  2 , Josefine Dunst  3 , André Haubner  1 , Pawel Durek  4   5 , Frederik Heinrich  6 , Gilles Gasparoni  7 , Marina Babic  1 , Adriana Tomic  2 , Gabriella Pietra  8   9 , Mikalai Nienen  10 , Igor Wolfgang Blau  11 , Jörg Hofmann  12   13 , Il-Kang Na  11   14   15 , Immo Prinz  16 , Christian Koenecke  16   17 , Philipp Hemmati  11 , Nina Babel  10   18 , Renate Arnold  11 , Jörn Walter  7 , Kevin Thurley  19 , Mir-Farzin Mashreghi  6 , Martin Messerle  2 , Chiara Romagnani  20   21
Affiliations

Peptide-specific recognition of human cytomegalovirus strains controls adaptive natural killer cells

Quirin Hammer et al. Nat Immunol. 2018 May.

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that lack antigen-specific rearranged receptors, a hallmark of adaptive lymphocytes. In some people infected with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), an NK cell subset expressing the activating receptor NKG2C undergoes clonal-like expansion that partially resembles anti-viral adaptive responses. However, the viral ligand that drives the activation and differentiation of adaptive NKG2C+ NK cells has remained unclear. Here we found that adaptive NKG2C+ NK cells differentially recognized distinct HCMV strains encoding variable UL40 peptides that, in combination with pro-inflammatory signals, controlled the population expansion and differentiation of adaptive NKG2C+ NK cells. Thus, we propose that polymorphic HCMV peptides contribute to shaping of the heterogeneity of adaptive NKG2C+ NK cell populations among HCMV-seropositive people.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • Adaptive responses of innate lymphocytes.
    Watzl C. Watzl C. Nat Immunol. 2018 May;19(5):426-427. doi: 10.1038/s41590-018-0088-0. Nat Immunol. 2018. PMID: 29670228 No abstract available.
  • Specificity for HCMV strains.
    Minton K. Minton K. Nat Rev Immunol. 2018 Jun;18(6):358-359. doi: 10.1038/s41577-018-0010-x. Nat Rev Immunol. 2018. PMID: 29674650 No abstract available.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances