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Immunology of Cytokine Storm Syndromes: Natural Killer Cells

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Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune lymphocytes that rapidly produce cytokines upon activation and kill target cells. NK cells have been of particular interest in primary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (pHLH) since all of the genetic defects associated with this disorder cause diminished cytotoxic capacity of NK cells and T lymphocytes, and assays of NK cell killing are used clinically for the diagnosis of HLH. Herein, we review human NK cell biology and the significance of alterations in NK cell function in the diagnosis and pathogenesis of HLH.

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Acknowledgments

Work in French’s laboratory is supported by NIH RO1AI078994 and a grant from the Strategic Pharma-Academic Research Consortium. Work in Cooper’s laboratory is supported by NIH RO1AI127752.

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  1. Division of Rheumatology/Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Anthony R. French & Megan A. Cooper

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  1. Anthony R. French
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  2. Megan A. Cooper
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Correspondence to Megan A. Cooper .

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  1. UAB School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Randy Q. Cron

  2. Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Edward M. Behrens

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French, A.R., Cooper, M.A. (2019). Immunology of Cytokine Storm Syndromes: Natural Killer Cells. In: Cron, R., Behrens, E. (eds) Cytokine Storm Syndrome. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22094-5_10

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