or reduced in a certain number of diseases, but the significance of these variations is not yet clear.

NK cells are lymphocytes of the innate immune system which are a first line of defense against infections and tumor cells, in bone marrow and peripheral organs like lung and spleen. The lung is an organ in contact with respiratory pathogens and the site of inflammatory disorders triggered by the respiratory environment. In contrast, spleen is a lymphatic organ connected to the blood system which regulates the systemic immune response. Here we compare NK cell maturation and expansion as well as expression of NK cell receptors in spleen and lung compartments. We show that spleen and lung NK cells differ in phenotypic and functional characteristics due to a difference of maturity and cellular microenvironment. Indeed we observe that spleen and lung macrophages have the capacity to influence the cytotoxicity of NK cells by cell-to-cell contact. This suggests that the differences of NK cell subsets are in part due to a modulation by the organ environment.

Neurotrophins such as nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor have been described to be involved in the pathogenesis of asthma. Neurturin (NTN), another neurotrophin from the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor family, was shown to be produced by human immune cells: monocytes, B cells, and T cells. Furthermore, it was previously described that the secretion of inflammatory cytokines was dramatically stimulated in NTN knockout (NTN−/−) mice. NTN is structurally similar to TGF-β, a protective cytokine in airway inflammation. This study investigates the implication of NTN in a model of allergic airway inflammation using NTN−/− mice. The bronchial inflammatory response of OVA-sensitized NTN−/− mice was compared with wild-type mice. Airway inflammation, Th2 cytokines, and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) were examined. NTN−/− mice showed an increase of OVA-specific serum IgE and a pronounced worsening of inflammatory features. Eosinophil number and IL-4 and IL-5 concentration in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung tissue were increased. In parallel, Th2 cytokine secretion of lung draining lymph node cells was also augmented when stimulated by OVA in vitro. Furthermore, AHR was markedly enhanced in NTN−/− mice after sensitization and challenge when compared with wild-type mice. Administration of NTN before challenge with OVA partially rescues the phenotype of NTN−/− mice. These findings provide evidence for a dampening role of NTN on allergic inflammation and AHR in a murine model of asthma.

Early Life Adversity (ELA) is closely associated with the risk for developing diseases later in life, such as autoimmune diseases, type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In humans, early parental separation, physical and sexual abuse or low social-economic status during childhood are known to have great impact on brain development, in the hormonal system and immune responses. Maternal deprivation (MD) is the closest animal model available to the human situation. This paradigm induces long lasting behavioral effects, causes changes in the HPA axis and affects the immune system. However, the mechanisms underlying changes in the immune response after ELA are still not fully understood. In this study we investigated how ELA changes the immune system, through an unbiased analysis, viSNE, and addressed specially the NK immune cell population and its functionality. We have demonstrated that maternal separation, in both humans and rats, significantly affects the sensitivity of the immune system in adulthood. Particularly, NK cells’ profile and response to target cell lines are significantly changed after ELA. These immune cells in rats are not only less cytotoxic towards YAC-1 cells, but also show a clear increase in the expression of maturation markers after 3h of maternal separation. Similarly, individuals who suffered from ELA display significant changes in the cytotoxic profile of NK cells together with decreased degranulation capacity. These results suggest that one of the key mechanisms by which the immune system becomes impaired after ELA might be due to a shift on the senescent state of the cells, specifically NK cells. Elucidation of such a mechanism highlights the importance of ELA prevention and how NK targeted immunotherapy might help attenuating ELA consequences.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphoid cells at the interface between innate and adaptive immunity and mostly studied for their important roles in viral infections and malignant tumors. They can kill diseased cells and produce cytokines and chemokines, thereby shaping the adaptive immune response. Nowadays, NK cells are considered as a strong weapon for cancer immunotherapy and can for example be transduced to express tumor-specific chimeric antigen receptors or harnessed with therapeutic antibodies such as the so-called NK engagers. Whereas a large body of literature exists about the antiviral and antitumoral properties of NK cells, their potential role in bacterial infections is not that well delineated. Furthermore, NK cells are much more heterogeneous than previously thought and have tissue-characteristic features and phenotypes. This review gives an overview of airway NK cells and their position within the immunological army dressed against bacterial infections in the upper and predominantly the lower respiratory tracts. Whereas it appears that in several infections, NK cells play a non-redundant and protective role, they can likewise act as rather detrimental. The use of mouse models and the difficulty of access to human airway tissues for ethical reasons might partly explain the divergent results. However, new methods are appearing that are likely to reduce the heterogeneity between studies and to give a more coherent picture in this field.

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Natural killer (NK) cells are important effectors of the innate immune system and participate in the first line of defense against infections and tumors. Prior to being functional, these lymphocytes must be educated or licensed through interactions of their major histocompatibility complex class I molecules with self-specific inhibitory receptors that recognize them. In the absence of such contacts, caused by either the lack of expression of the inhibitory receptors or a very low level of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I) proteins, NK cells are hypo-reactive at baseline (ex vivo). After stimulation (assessed through plate-bound antibodies against activating receptors or culture in the presence of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-2 or IL-15) however, they can become cytotoxic and produce cytokines. This is particularly the case in transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP)-deficient mice, which we investigated in the present study. Transporter associated with antigen processing transports endogenous peptides from the cytosol to the endoplasmic reticulum, where they are loaded on nascent MHC class I molecules, which then become stable and expressed at the cell surface. Consequently, TAP-KO mice have very low levels of MHC class I expression. We present a study about phenotypic and functional aspects of NK cells in two mouse strains, C57BL/6 wildtype and TAP1-KO in spleen and lung. We observed that in both types of mice, on the same genetic background, the initial pattern of education, conferred to the cells via the inhibitory receptors Ly49C/I and NKG2A, was maintained even after a strong stimulation by the cytokines interleukin-2, interleukin-12, interleukin-15 and interleukin-18. Furthermore, the percentages of activated NK cells expressing Ly49C/I and Ly49I were strongly down-modulated under these conditions. We completed our investigations with phenotypic studies of NK cells from these mice.