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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Immunol. 2016 Oct 21;37(12):877–888. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2016.09.005

Figure 2. Cytokine-Induced Memory-Like NK Cells Respond to Primary AML Cells Expressing Inhibitory MHC Class I Ligands.

Figure 2

(Left) Engagement of inhibitory killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) expressed by conventional, naïve NK cells normally limits their activation. However, cytokine-induced memory-like NK cells expressing inhibitory KIR recognizing MHC class I expressed by primary AML blasts exhibited enhanced IFN-γ production, compared to control or naïve NK cells. The precise activating signal in this context is currently unknown, although cytokine-induced memory-like NK cells have increased expression of a number of activating receptors. In addition to IFN-γ production, human memory-like NK cell exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity against leukemia targets, compared to control NK cells from the same donors. (Right) In the setting of KIR to KIR-ligand mismatch, memory-like NK cells also have superior responses to conventional or naïve control cells.