Antigen-specific NK cell memory in rhesus macaques
Publication information:
Reeves K, Li H, Jost S, Blass E, Li H, Schafer J, Varner V, Manickam C, Eslamizar L, Altfeld M, et al. Antigen-specific NK cell memory in rhesus macaques. Nat Immunol. 2015;16(9):927–32. doi:10.1038/ni.3227
Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells have traditionally been considered nonspecific components of innate immunity, but recent studies have shown features of antigen-specific memory in mouse NK cells. However, it has remained unclear whether this phenomenon also exists in primates. We found that splenic and hepatic NK cells from SHIV(SF162P3)-infected and SIV(mac251)-infected macaques specifically lysed Gag- and Env-pulsed dendritic cells in an NKG2-dependent fashion, in contrast to NK cells from uninfected macaques. Moreover, splenic and hepatic NK cells from Ad26-vaccinated macaques efficiently lysed antigen-matched but not antigen-mismatched targets 5 years after vaccination. These data demonstrate that robust, durable, antigen-specific NK cell memory can be induced in primates after both infection and vaccination, and this finding could be important for the development of vaccines against HIV-1 and other pathogens.