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The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1990 May 1;171(5):1527–1533. doi: 10.1084/jem.171.5.1527

Constitutive expression of high affinity interleukin 2 receptors on human CD16-natural killer cells in vivo

PMCID: PMC2187903  PMID: 2139697

Abstract

The majority of human NK cells express low affinity IgG Fc receptors (CD16+), whereas a minor subset of NK cells lack Fc receptor expression (CD16-). In contrast to CD16+ NK cells that express only p75 IL-2 receptors, CD16- NK cells constitutively co-express both p75 and p55 IL- 2 receptors in vivo and preferentially respond to low concentrations of IL-2 with increased cytolytic activation and proliferation. Scatchard analysis demonstrated the presence of approximately 1,200 high affinity (approximately 25 pM kD) and approximately 9,600 intermediate affinity (approximately 2 nM kD) IL-2 receptors on CD16- NK cells. CD16+ NK cells expressed only a single intermediate affinity IL-2 receptor of approximately 1.9 nM kD (approximately 9,000 sites per cell). The IL-2 binding data thus substantiated the phenotypic and functional studies and definitively show that the differential responsiveness of CD16- and CD16+ NK cells to IL-2 is manifested through different affinity IL-2 receptors.

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Selected References

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