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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013 Jul 30;132(3):536–544. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2013.07.006

Figure 1. Models of NK cell education.

Figure 1

During NK cell development, only some of the stochastically-expressed inhibitory receptors (KIR in humans and Ly49 in mice) recognize self MHC-I ligand (self-recognizing inhibitory receptor; SRIR). SRIR interactions promote NK cell education to mediate cytotoxicity toward an abnormal cell that has lost expression of MHC-I, whereas a mature NK cell expressing only unliganded inhibitory receptors becomes hyporesponsive. Models of NK cell education are indicated: 1) Rheostat: expression of >1 SRIR promotes more robust education, 2) Cis Interaction: interactions between SRIR and MHC-I on the NK cell surface are important, 3) Arming: inhibitory signaling blocks chronic activation signals that would otherwise anergize (“Disarming”); 4) Licensing: an ITIM-mediated signal drives education.