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A Novel Feeder-free System for Mass Production of Murine Natural Killer Cells In Vitro
10:36

A Novel Feeder-free System for Mass Production of Murine Natural Killer Cells In Vitro

Published on: January 9, 2018

Natural killer cells and their precursors in mice with severe combined immunodeficiency

V Kumar, J Hackett, M M Tutt

    Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology
    |January 1, 1989
    PubMed

    Our studies with scid mice have clarified the relationship between T cells and NK cells. C.B-17 scid mice have normal frequency of transplantable NK progenitors in their bone marrow which develop into fully functional NK cells. Spleens of scid mice contain mature NK cells which are phenotypically and functionally indistinguishable from NK cells found in normal mice. These cells retain their TCR genes in germline configuration and do not transcribe the CD3 genes. Thus, NK cells are distinct from the earliest identifiable cells committed to the T-lineage. In addition to the spleen, the thymus of scid mice also contains mature NK cells. These cells constitute a small proportion of the thymus cell population and can be clearly distinguished from the majority of cells, which have the phenotype and molecular characteristics of very early T-lineage cells. There is no evidence that NK cells within the thymus are derived in situ from a common NK/T precursor. Together these data support the hypothesis that NK cells form an independent lineage.

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