Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Natural killer cells and nitric oxide.

M G Cifone1, S Ulisse, A Santoni

  • 1Department of Experimental Medicine, University of L'Aquila, Italy. cifone@univaq.it

International Immunopharmacology
|August 23, 2001
PubMed
Summary

Natural killer (NK) cells and nitric oxide (NO) work together in the innate immune response. Nitric oxide (NO) is essential for NK cell-mediated killing and regulates NK cell activation.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Mach-Zehnder atom interferometry with non-interacting trapped Bose-Einstein condensates.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Tracking electrophysiological dynamics of prior exploitation in visual motion perception.

Biological psychology·2026
Same author

Survival analysis of the non-metastatic cohort of the Italian Association for Medical Oncology (AIOM) Guideline Application in Real world: multi-Institutional Based survey of Adjuvant and first-Line pancreatic Ductal adenocarcinoma treatment in Italy (GARIBALDI).

ESMO open·2025
Same author

Survival analysis of the metastatic cohort of Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) GARIBALDI survey.

Pancreatology : official journal of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) ... [et al.]·2024
Same author

Short-term creep approach to redefining the role of 17-4PH stainless steel for high-temperature applications.

Scientific reports·2024
Same author

Real-life experience of edoxaban treatment for venous thromboembolism (VTE)/pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with isolated positive Lupus Anticoagulant (LAC) during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy.

European review for medical and pharmacological sciences·2022

Area of Science:

  • Immunology
  • Cellular Biology

Background:

  • Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes crucial for innate immunity, identifying and eliminating infected or tumor cells.
  • NK cells distinguish 'self' from 'non-self' via receptors recognizing MHC class I determinants.
  • Cytokines like IL-2 and IL-12 enhance NK cell activity, which is linked to nitric oxide (NO) synthesis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence for nitric oxide (NO) as a mediator and regulator of NK cell function.
  • To discuss findings from NO synthase gene deletion studies.
  • To compare rodent and human NK cells.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing scientific literature.
  • Analysis of studies involving NO synthesis inhibitors.
  • Examination of NO synthase gene deletion studies.

Main Results:

  • Inhibitors of NO synthesis reduce NK cell-mediated killing, confirming NO's role in this process.
  • NO itself can modulate NK cell activation.
  • Evidence suggests NO is both a mediator of NK cell cytotoxicity and a regulator of NK cell activity.

Conclusions:

  • Nitric oxide (NO) plays a dual role in NK cell function, acting as both a mediator of target cell killing and a regulator of NK cell activation.
  • Further research, including gene deletion studies, supports the critical involvement of NO in innate immunity.
  • Comparative studies of rodent and human NK cells are important for understanding species-specific immune responses.

Related Experiment Videos