Nathalie T. Joncker Regulation of NK cell David H. Raulet responsiveness to achieve self-tolerance and maximal responses to diseased target cells Authors’ addresses Summary: Inhibitory receptors specific for major histocompatibility com- Nathalie T. Joncker1,2, David H. Raulet1,2 plex (MHC) class I molecules govern the capacity of natural killer (NK) cells 1Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of to attack class I-deficient cells (‘missing-self recognition’). These receptors California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. are expressed stochastically, such that the panel of expressed receptors 2Cancer Research Laboratory, University of California varies between NK cells. This review addresses how the activity of NK cells Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. is coordinated in the face of this variation to achieve a repertoire that is self- tolerant and optimally reactive with diseased cells. Recent studies show that Correspondence to: NK cells arise in normal animals or humans that lack any known inhibitory David H. Raulet receptors specific for self-MHC class I. These NK cells exhibit self-tolerance Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and exhibit functional hyporesponsiveness to stimulation through various 485 LSA activating receptors. Evidence suggests that hyporesponsiveness is induced University of California Berkeley because these NK cells cannot engage inhibitory MHC class I molecules and Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA are therefore persistently over-stimulated by normal cells in the environ- Tel.: 510 642 9521 ment. Finally, we discuss evidence that hyporesponsiveness is a quantitative Fax: 510 642 1443 trait that varies depending on the balance of signals encountered by e-mail:
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