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Updated: May 26, 2026

Natural Killer (NK) and CAR-NK Cell Expansion Method using Membrane Bound-IL-21-Modified B Cell Line
Published on: February 8, 2022
Natural killer cell activation enhances immune pathology and promotes chronic infection by limiting CD8+ T-cell
Philipp A Lang1, Karl S Lang, Haifeng C Xu
1Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research, Ontario Cancer Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada M5G 2C1.
Abstract:
Infections with HIV, hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus can turn into chronic infections, which currently affect more than 500 million patients worldwide. It is generally thought that virus-mediated T-cell exhaustion limits T-cell function, thus promoting chronic disease. Here we demonstrate that natural killer (NK) cells have a negative impact on the development of T-cell immunity by using the murine lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. NK cell-deficient (Nfil3(-/-), E4BP4(-/-)) mice exhibited a higher virus-specific T-cell response. In addition, NK cell depletion caused enhanced T-cell immunity in WT mice, which led to rapid virus control and prevented chronic infection in lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus clone 13- and reduced viral load in DOCILE-infected animals. Further experiments showed that NKG2D triggered regulatory NK cell functions, which were mediated by perforin, and limited T-cell responses. Therefore, we identified an important role of regulatory NK cells in limiting T-cell immunity during virus infection.
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