Key Points• Activated NK cells display heterogeneity in their cytotoxic responses that justifies grouping them into 5 distinct classes of NK cells.• A subpopulation of particularly active "serial killer" NK cells deliver their lytic hits faster and release more perforin in each hit.

A long-standing unknown is how an immune synapse disassembles. In this study, Srpan et al. show that shedding of CD16 promotes the detachment of NK cells from target cells to aid serial engagement of multiple targets and to sustain NK cell viability.

New markers are constantly emerging that identify smaller and smaller subpopulations of immune cells. However, there is a growing awareness that even within very small populations, there is a marked functional heterogeneity and that measurements at the population level only gives an average estimate of the behaviour of that pool of cells. New techniques to analyze single immune cells over time are needed to overcome this limitation. For that purpose, we have designed and evaluated microwell array systems made from two materials, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and silicon, for high-resolution imaging of individual natural killer (NK) cell responses. Both materials were suitable for short-term studies (<4 hours) but only silicon wells allowed long-term studies (several days). Time-lapse imaging of NK cell cytotoxicity in these microwell arrays revealed that roughly 30% of the target cells died much more rapidly than the rest upon NK cell encounter. This unexpected heterogeneity may reflect either separate mechanisms of killing or different killing efficiency by individual NK cells. Furthermore, we show that high-resolution imaging of inhibitory synapse formation, defined by clustering of MHC class I at the interface between NK and target cells, is possible in these microwells. We conclude that live cell imaging of NK-target cell interactions in multi-well microstructures are possible. The technique enables novel types of assays and allow data collection at a level of resolution not previously obtained. Furthermore, due to the large number of wells that can be simultaneously imaged, new statistical information is obtained that will lead to a better understanding of the function and regulation of the immune system at the single cell level.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a clonal heterogeneous stem cell disorder driven by multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations resulting in ineffective hematopoiesis. MDS has a high frequency of immune suppressors, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), that collectively result in a poor immune response. MDSCs in MDS patients express CD155 that ligates the T-cell immunoreceptor with immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT) and delivers an inhibitory signal to natural killer (NK) cells. To mediate a productive immune response against MDS, negative regulatory checkpoints, like TIGIT, expressed on MDS NK cells must be overcome. NK cells can be directed to lyse MDS cells by bispecific killer engagers (BiKEs) that ligate CD16 on NK cells and CD33 on MDS cells. However, such CD16 × CD33 (1633) BiKEs do not induce the proliferative response in MDS NK cells needed to sustain their function. Here, we show that the addition of an NK stimulatory cytokine, interleukin-15 (IL-15), into the BiKE platform leads to productive IL-15 signaling without TIGIT upregulation on NK cells from MDS patients. Lower TIGIT expression allowed NK cells to resist MDSC inhibition. When compared with 1633 BiKE, 161533 trispecific killer engager (TriKE)-treated NK cells demonstrated superior killing kinetics associated with increased STAT5 phosphorylation. Furthermore, 161533 TriKE-treated MDS NK cells had higher proliferation and enhanced NK-cell function than 1633 BiKE-treated cells without the IL-15 linker. Collectively, our data demonstrate novel characteristics of the 161533 TriKE that support its application as an immunotherapeutic agent for MDS patients.

Here, we report a screening platform for assessment of the cytotoxic potential of individual natural killer (NK) cells within larger populations. Human primary NK cells were distributed across a silicon–glass microchip containing 32,400 individual microwells loaded with target cells. Through fluorescence screening and automated image analysis, the numbers of NK and live or dead target cells in each well could be assessed at different time points after initial mixing. Cytotoxicity was also studied by time-lapse live-cell imaging in microwells quantifying the killing potential of individual NK cells. Although most resting NK cells (≈75%) were non-cytotoxic against the leukemia cell line K562, some NK cells were able to kill several (≥3) target cells within the 12-h long experiment. In addition, the screening approach was adapted to increase the chance to find and evaluate serial killing NK cells. Even if the cytotoxic potential varied between donors, it was evident that a small fraction of highly cytotoxic NK cells were responsible for a substantial portion of the killing. We demonstrate multiple assays where our platform can be used to enumerate and characterize cytotoxic cells, such as NK or T cells. This approach could find use in clinical applications, e.g., in the selection of donors for stem cell transplantation or generation of highly specific and cytotoxic cells for adoptive immunotherapy.

Nanoparticles of iron oxide generated by wearing of vehicles have been modelled with a tailored solution of size-uniform engineered magnetite particles produced by the Bradley reaction, a solvothermal metal-organic approach rendering hydrophilic particles. The latter does not bear any pronounced surface charge in analogy with that originating from anthropogenic sources in the environment. Physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles were thoroughly characterized by a wide range of methods, including XPD, TEM, SEM, DLS and spectroscopic techniques. The magnetite nanoparticles were found to be sensitive for transformation into maghemite under ambient conditions. This process was clearly revealed by Raman spectroscopy for high surface energy magnetite particles containing minor impurities of the hydromaghemite phase and was followed by quantitative measurements with EXAFS spectroscopy. In order to assess the toxicological effects of the produced nanoparticles in humans, with and without surface modification with ATP (a model of bio-corona formed in alveolar liquid), a pathway of potential uptake and clearance was modelled with a sequence of in vitro studies using A549 lung epithelial cells, lymphocyte 221-B cells, and 293T embryonal kidney cells, respectively. Raman microscopy unambiguously showed that magnetite nanoparticles are internalized within the A549 cells after 24 h co-incubation, and that the ATP ligand is retained on the nanoparticles throughout the uptake process. The toxicity of the nanoparticles was estimated using confocal fluorescence microscopy and indicated no principal difference for unmodified and modified particles, but revealed considerably different biochemical responses. The IL-8 cytokine response was found to be significantly lower for the magnetite nanoparticles compared to TiO(2), while an enhancement of ROS was observed, which was further increased for the ATP-modified nanoparticles, implicating involvement of the ATP signalling pathway in the epithelium.

We present a novel microwell array platform suited for various cell-imaging assays where single cell resolution is important. The platform consists of an exchangeable silicon-glass microchip for cell biological applications and a custom made holder that fits in conventional microscopes. The microchips presented here contain arrays of miniature wells, where the well sizes and layout have been designed for different applications, including single cell imaging, studies of cell-cell interactions or ultrasonic manipulation of cells. The device has been designed to be easy to use, to allow long-term assays (spanning several days) with read-outs based on high-resolution imaging or high-content screening. This study is focused on screening applications and an automatic cell counting protocol is described and evaluated. Finally, we have tested the device and automatic counting by studying the selective survival and clonal expansion of 721.221 B cells transfected to express HLA Cw6-GFP compared to untransfected 721.221 B cells when grown under antibiotic selection for 3 days. The device and automated analysis protocol make up the foundation for development of several novel cellular imaging assays.

Each individual has a heterogeneous pool of NK cells consisting of cells that may be specialized towards specific functional responses such as secretion of cytokines or killing of tumor cells. Many conventional methods are not fit to characterize heterogeneous populations as they measure the average response of all cells. Thus, there is a need for experimental platforms that provide single cell resolution. In addition, there are transient and stochastic variations in functional responses at the single cell level, calling for methods that allow studies of many events over extended periods of time. This paper presents a versatile microchip platform enabling long-term microscopic studies of individual NK cells interacting with target cells. Each microchip contains an array of microwells, optimized for medium or high-resolution time-lapse imaging of single or multiple NK and target cells, or for screening of thousands of isolated NK-target cell interactions. Individual NK cells confined with target cells in small microwells is a suitable setup for high-content screening and rapid assessment of heterogeneity within populations, while microwells of larger dimensions are appropriate for studies of NK cell migration and sequential interactions with multiple target cells. By combining the chip technology with ultrasonic manipulation, NK and target cells can be forced to interact and positioned with high spatial accuracy within individual microwells. This setup effectively and synchronously creates NK-target conjugates at hundreds of parallel positions in the microchip. Thus, this facilitates assessment of temporal aspects of NK-target cell interactions, e.g., conjugation, immune synapse formation, and cytotoxic events. The microchip platform presented here can be used to effectively address questions related to fundamental functions of NK cells that can lead to better understanding of how the behavior of individual cells add up to give a functional response at the population level.