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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

Selective Harvesting of Marginating-pulmonary Leukocytes
Published on: March 11, 2016
Phenotypically and functionally distinct subsets of natural killer cells in human PBMCs
Yan-ying Fan1, Bin-yan Yang, Chang-you Wu
1Department of Immunology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, 74 Zhong-Shan 2nd Road, Guangzhou 510080, PR China.
Abstract:
Human natural killer (NK) cells are one major component of lymphocytes that mediate early protection against viruses and tumor cells, and play an important role in immune regulatory functions. In this study, we demonstrated that human NK cells could be divided into four subsets, CD56hi CD16(-), CD56lo CD16(-), CD56+CD16+ and CD56(-)CD16+, based on the expression of cell surface CD56 and CD16 molecules. Phenotypic analysis of NK cell subsets indicated that the expression of activation markers, adhesion molecules, memory cell markers, inhibitory and activating receptors, and intracellular proteins (granzyme B and perforin) were heterogeneous. Following interleukin (IL)-2 stimulation, interferon-gamma was preferentially produced by CD56+CD16(-) NK cells and this subset showed more proliferative capacity. The cytolytic activity of both CD56+CD16(-) and CD56+/-CD16+ subsets could be augmented in response to IL-2. The data provided a new definition for NK cell subsets demonstrating their phenotypic and functional diversity and possible stage of NK cell differentiation in peripheral blood.
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