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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Virol. 2011 Dec 1;1(6):497–512. doi: 10.1016/j.coviro.2011.10.017

Figure 2. Receptor regulation of NK cells during viral infections.

Figure 2

The inhibitory receptors are mostly appreciated for their ability to recognize classical and non-classical major histocompatibility class 1 (MHC1) molecules in balancing towards dampened NK cell stimulation under normal conditions, but there are a few examples of viral products accessing these receptors to avoid NK cell-mediated defense. There is a growing list of examples of activating receptors, from both highly diverse and highly conserved gene famlies in human and mouse, recognizing ligands expressed on virus-infected cells. A few of these directly recognize viral products. Most indirectly recognize either MHC1 or non-classical MHC1 along with virus-induced changes on infected cells or stress molecules induced in virus-infected cells. (SeeTable 1 for detailed examples.)