Table 3.

Combined NK cell-/NKT cell-mediated mechanisms in periodontitis. NK—natural killer cell; NKT—natural killer T cell; gF—gingival fibroblast; CXCL—CXC-motif ligand chemokine; and IFN-ɣ—interferon gamma.

Mechanism	Evaluation of the Influence	Study Design	Reference
CXCL 16 produced by human gFs in diseased periodontal tissues controls the migration of NK and NKT cells, leading to bone resorption	Proinflammatory through IFN-ɣ and further attraction by chemokines	Human biopsies Cell cultivation Gene analysis	Hosokawa et al. (2007) [77]
Increased number of NK and NKT cells in tissues from patients with chronic periodontitis	Proinflammatory through downregulation of T-helper cells	Human biopsies Cell cultivation Immunostaining	Muthukuru et al. (2012) [78]