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Updated: Jul 2, 2026

Highly Efficient Transfection of Human THP-1 Macrophages by Nucleofection
Published on: September 2, 2014
Posttranscriptional regulation of II10 gene expression allows natural killer cells to express immunoregulatory
Asher Maroof1, Lynette Beattie, Soombul Zubairi
1Immunology and Infection Unit, Hull York Medical School and Department of Biology, University of York, Wentworth Way, York YO10 5YW, UK.
Abstract:
Natural killer (NK) cells play a well-recognized role in early pathogen containment and in shaping acquired cell-mediated immunity. However, indirect evidence in humans and experimental models has suggested that NK cells also play negative regulatory roles during chronic disease. To formally test this hypothesis, we employed a well-defined experimental model of visceral leishmaniasis. Our data demonstrated that NKp46(+)CD49b(+)CD3(-) NK cells were recruited to the spleen and into hepatic granulomas, where they inhibited host protective immunity in an interleukin-10 (IL-10)-dependent manner. Although IL-10 mRNA could be detected in activated NK cells 24 hr after infection, the inhibitory function of NK cells was only acquired later during infection, coincident with increased IL-10 mRNA stability and an enhanced capacity to secrete IL-10 protein. Our data support a growing body of literature that implicates NK cells as negative regulators of cell-mediated immunity and suggest that NK cells, like CD4(+) T helper 1 cells, may acquire immunoregulatory functions as a consequence of extensive activation.
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