1. Murine thymic NK cells are distinct from ILC1s and have unique transcription factor requirements
- Author
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April Bell, Barbara L. Kee, Loris Zamai, Mengxi Sun, Erin C. Zook, Renée F. de Pooter, and Sara Gabrielli
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,CD11b Antigen ,Intracellular parasite ,Cellular differentiation ,Immunology ,Cell ,Innate lymphoid cell ,Biology ,Cell biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,030104 developmental biology ,0302 clinical medicine ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Integrin alpha M ,ETS1 ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Immunology and Allergy ,Transcription factor ,030215 immunology - Abstract
Group 1 innate lymphoid cells include natural killer (NK) cells and ILC1s, which mediate the response to intracellular pathogens. Thymic NK (tNK) cells were described with hybrid features of immature NK cells and ILC1 but whether these cells are related to NK cells or ILC1 has not been fully investigated. We report that murine tNK cells expressed the NK-cell associated transcription factor EOMES and developed independent of the essential ILC1 factor TBET, confirming their placement within the NK lineage. Moreover, tNK cells resemble NK cells rather than ILC1 in their requirements for the E protein transcription factor inhibitor ID2. We provide further insight into the mechanisms governing tNK-cell development by showing that the transcription factor ETS1 prevented tNK cell acquisition of the conventional NK-cell maturation markers CD11b and KLRG1. Our data reveal few ILC1 in the thymus and clarify the identity and developmental requirements of tNK cells.
- Published
- 2017