A human NK cell progenitor that originates in the thymus and generates KIR⁺NKG2A^- NK cells.

Abstract

KIR⁺NKG2A^- natural killer (NK) cells have the unique ability to detect down-regulation of single HLA-I allotypes, frequently occurring in malignantly transformed and virus-infected cells. We have recently shown that circulating innate lymphoid cells 1 (cILC1s) have the potential to generate such KIR⁺NKG2A^- NK cells, but their developmental origin was unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the development of cILC1 is thymus dependent and identify a putative progenitor of cILC1s in the thymus (thyILC1). Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis revealed a close relationship of thyILC1s to CD34⁺ double-negative thymocytes. Both generated comparable NK cell frequencies, while only thyILC1s could be efficiently differentiated into KIR⁺NKG2A^- NK cells. Last, patients with <i>FOXN1</i> haploinsufficiency, showing congenital thymic hypoplasia, exhibited a profound deficiency of cILC1s but not cILC2s and cILC3s, demonstrating their specific thymus dependency. Together, the data suggest that thyILC1s are the source of a thymus-dependent NK cell differentiation pathway that promotes generation of KIR⁺NKG2A^- NK cells.