Microclusters of active KIR (red) keep NK cells from killing their targets.

Inhibitory signaling in natural killer (NK) cells is restricted to microclusters of cell surface receptors rather than being evenly distributed across the immune synapse, report Treanor et al. on page 153.

Natural killer (NK) cells survey the body looking for infected or damaged cells. Activation of their killing function can be achieved by any one of a number of cell surface proteins, but this is reversed if the killer Ig-like receptor (KIR) on the NK cell surface recognizes a major histocompatibility complex I protein on the surface of the cell under investigation. Then the KIR is phosphorylated and produces a strong inhibitory signal, preventing the NK cell from killing the surveyed cell.

To look at the distribution of KIR activity in the immune synapse, Treanor et al. detected FRET between GFP-tagged KIR...

The Rockefeller University Press
2006
The Rockefeller University Press
2006
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