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. 2014 Oct 31;3(12):e946365. doi: 10.4161/21624011.2014.946365

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

The expression and role of TIM-3 in natural killer (NK) cells. NK cell activation, through exposure to different cytokines (e.g., IL-2, IL-15. Il-18 and IL-12), leads to an increase in TIM-3 expression (activation marker – upper part of the figure). In the context of chronic inflammation, such as occurs in cancer or chronic viral infection, TIM-3 is overexpressed on NK cells and plays an important role in inducing exhaustion of these cells (exhaustion marker – lower part of the figure). TIM-3, T cell immunoglobulin- and mucin-domain-containing molecule-3; Eomes, eomesodermin.