Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells contain specialized lysosome-related organelles termed lytic granules allowing them to mediate cytotoxicity against tumorigenic or virally infected target cells. NK cells polarize their lytic granules toward a target cell via the microtubule-organizing center (MTOC). Prior to that, however, lytic granules converge to the MTOC along microtubules utilizing minus-end-directed microtubule motors. Herein we describe how to visualize and quantify lytic granule convergence using confocal microscopy to gain quantitative insight into NK cell cytotoxicity and its regulation.
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References
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. Ashley Mentlik-James for her efforts in developing this protocol in part as part of her Ph.D. thesis. This work was supported by NIH grants R01AI069746 and R01AI120989 to J.S.O.
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Hsu, HT., Carisey, A.F., Orange, J.S. (2017). Measurement of Lytic Granule Convergence After Formation of an NK Cell Immunological Synapse. In: Baldari, C., Dustin, M. (eds) The Immune Synapse. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1584. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6881-7_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6881-7_31
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Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
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Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6881-7
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