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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Mar 21.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Immunol. 2019 Mar 21;41:101269. doi: 10.1016/j.smim.2019.03.001

Figure 1. Lineage of Cytotoxic Innate Lymphocyte Differentiation.

Figure 1.

A. The common innate lymphoid progenitor (CILP) gives rise to the natural killer (NK) and innate lymphoid cell (ILC) lineages. Downstream of the CILP, the common helper innate lymphoid cell progenitor (CHILP) gives rise to all helper ILCs but has lost NK cell potential. In the liver, ILCk are derived from PLZF-expressing ILCp. However, it remains to be determined whether ILCk are differentiated via a distinct pathway downstream of ILCp or converted from helper ILC. The identity of a NK-committed progenitor downstream of the CILP remains unclear. Tissue-resident NK cells may be converted from conventional NK cells but may also be derived from an earlier progenitor.

B. Cytotoxic innate lymphocytes survey epithelial to detect cancer associated danger signals. They could sense malignancy via IL-15R and NKG2D-mediated signals, while the role of ECM cues and E-cadehrin-CD103 axis is less clear.