Peptide antagonism as a mechanism for NK cell activation.

Fadda, Lena; Borhis, Gwenoline; Ahmed, Parvin; Cheent, Kuldeep; Pageon, Sophie V; Cazaly, Angelica; Stathopoulos, Stavros; Middleton, Derek et al. · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 2010

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Inhibition of natural killer (NK) cells is mediated by MHC class I receptors including the killer cell Ig-like receptor (KIR). We demonstrate that HLA-C binding peptides can function as altered peptide ligands for KIR and antagonize the inhibition mediated by KIR2DL2/KIR2DL3. Antagonistic peptides promote clustering of KIR at the interface of effector and target cells, but do not result in inhibition of NK cells. Our data show that, as for T cells, small changes in the peptide content of MHC class I can regulate NK cell activity.

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