Natural killer cells in liver diseases

Abstract

The liver has been characterized as a frontline lymphoid organ with complex immunological features such as liver immunity and liver tolerance. Liver tolerance plays an important role in liver diseases including acute inflammation, chronic infection, autoimmune disease, and tumors. The liver contains a large proportion of natural killer (NK) cells, which exhibit heterogeneity in phenotypic and functional characteristics. NK cell activation, well known for its role in the immune surveillance against tumor and pathogen-infected cells, depends on the balance between numerous activating and inhibitory signals. In addition to the innate direct “killer” functions, NK cell activity contributes to regulate innate and adaptive immunity (helper or regulator). Under the setting of liver diseases, NK cells are of great importance for stimulating or inhibiting immune responses, leading to either immune activation or immune tolerance. Here, we focus on the relationship between NK cell biology, such as their phenotypic features and functional diversity, and liver diseases.

Keywords

natural killer cell / phenotype / immune activation / immune tolerance / liver diseases

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81771685, 91429303, 31390433, 81761128013, and 91542000) and Ministry of Science and Technology of China (973 Basic Science Project, No. 2013CB944902).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Meijuan Zheng, Haoyu Sun, and Zhigang Tian declare no conflict of interest. This manuscript is a review article and does not involve a research protocol requiring approval by the relevant institutional review board or ethics committee.

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