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Updated: Aug 2, 2026

A Novel Feeder-free System for Mass Production of Murine Natural Killer Cells In Vitro
Published on: January 9, 2018
Final steps of natural killer cell maturation: a model for type 1-type 2 differentiation?
1Kimmel Cancer Center, Jefferson Medical College, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Abstract:
Analysis of cytokine and differentiation antigen expression in human natural killer (NK) cells revealed that interleukin 13 (IL-13) and interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) are produced at sequential stages during irreversible IL-12-induced differentiation. In human NK cell clones, polyclonal CD3-CD161+CD56- cells and peripheral lymphocytes, IL-4 induced the proliferation of both IL-13+ NK and T cells, whereas IL-12 allowed a proliferation-independent accumulation of IFN-gamma+ cells. These data disproved the NK1-NK2 hypothesis and challenge the current T helper 1 (TH1)-TH2 paradigm. We propose that the cytokine environment regulates a type 2-->0-->1 developmental progression, with IL-12 needed for terminal differentiation and IL-4 delaying this process, rather than a type 1 versus type 2 decision of a type 0 cell.
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