Metabolism and function of NK cells / 中国免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

NK cells are important components of innate immune system and play a key role in immune responses.Activation of NK cells mainly depends on dynamic balance between activatory and inhibitory receptors expressed on surface.However,in many chronic diseases,balance between these receptors of NK cells is disorder,resulting in reduced cytolysis activity and cytokine produc-tion,which is in a state of immune inactivation.In recent years,many studies have shown that intracellular metabolism is crucial for immune cells such as NK cells,and changes of metabolism will regulate functions of immune cells by affecting cell development,pro-liferation and activity.In view of powerful anti-tumor and anti-viral effects of NK cells and their important clinical application value,it is important to study their metabolic characteristics and mechanisms.This review mainly introduces metabolic patterns of NK cell,related regulatory pathways,regulatory effects of metabolism on NK cell development,memory and functions,and metabolism-based NK cell therapy,also expounds important role of metabolism on NK cell biosynthesis,stability and effector function in vivo,as well as metabolism-related factors involved in NK cell inactivation in different chronic diseases,providing a solid research basis for clinical application of NK cell therapy.