Project description:Classical NK cells are the prototypical type 1 innate lymphocytes mounting cytolytic and IFNg responses to intracellular pathogens and tumors. A similar but distinct population termed ILC1 was recently described, differing from NK cells in multiple though relatively subtle ways, including tissue residency vs recirculation, and levels of NK receptors. Whether the differences reflect distinct lineages or mere variations in program expression is not fully understood. Here, using transcription factor reporter mice and cell transfers of bone marrow precursors, we found that, upon transfer in vivo, Eomes-expressing, lineage-negative, NK receptor-negative cells acquired properties typically associated with classical NK cells including the capacity to prevent metatstatic disease. In contrast, as previously reported, PLZFhigh cells mostly generated ILC1, ILC2, or ILC3. These findings identify the Eomes-expressing NK precursor as the long-elusive bone marrow precursor to classical NK cells, and demonstrate that the NK and ILC1 lineages diverge early during development.
Project description:Classical NK cells are the prototypical type 1 innate lymphocytes mounting cytolytic and IFNγ responses to intracellular pathogens and tumors. A similar but distinct population termed ILC1 was recently described, differing from NK cells in multiple though relatively subtle ways, including tissue residency vs recirculation, and levels of NK receptors. Whether the differences reflect distinct lineages or mere variations in program expression is not fully understood. Here, using transcription factor reporter mice and cell transfers of bone marrow precursors, we found that, upon transfer in vivo, Eomes-expressing, lineage-negative, NK receptor-negative cells acquired properties typically associated with classical NK cells including the capacity to prevent metatstatic disease. In contrast, as previously reported, PLZF-expressing cells mostly gave rise to ILC1 cells. These findings identify the Eomes-expressing NK precursor as the long-elusive bone marrow precursor to classical NK cells, and demonstrate that the NK and ILC1 lineages diverge early during development.
Project description:This study shows that liver Eomes- NK cells are not precursors of classical Eomes+ NK cells but rather constitute a distinct lineage of innate lymphoid cells. Gene profile analyses show that Eomes- NK cells share part of their transcriptional program with NKT cells that includes genes involved in liver homing, NK cell receptors, and several cytokines and cytokine receptors. Eomes- NK cells, Eomes+ Nk cells and NKT cells were sorted by flow cytometry from Eomes-GFP reporter mice. Total RNA was extracted and hybridized to Affymetrix microarrays.
Project description:We sorted Eomes-negative NK cells (CD3- CD56+ CXCR6- CD16-) and Eomes-positive NK cells (CD3- CD56+ CXCR6+) from total leukocytes isolated from the perfusion fluid of five healthy human livers destined for transplantation. Total RNA was extracted from sorted cells, cDNA generated and RNASeq performed.
Project description:Natural killer (NK) cells can be grouped into distinct subsets that are localized to different organs and exhibit different capacity to secrete cytokines and mediate cytotoxicity. Despite these hallmarks that reflect tissue-specific specialization in NK cells, little is known about the factors that control the development of these distinct subsets. The basic leucine zipper transcription factor nuclear factor interleukin 3 (Nfil3; E4bp4) is essential for bone marrow-derived NK cell development but it is not clear whether Nfil3 is equally important for all NK cell subsets nor how it induces NK lineage commitment. Here we show that Nfil3 is required for the formation of Eomesodermin (Eomes)-expressing NK cells, including conventional medullary and thymic NK cells, whereas TRAIL+ Eomes- NK cells develop independent of Nfil3. Loss of Nfil3 during the development of bone marrow-derived NK cells resulted in reduced expression of Eomes and, conversely, restoration of Eomes expression in Nfil3-/- progenitors rescued NK cell development and maturation. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that Nfil3 drives the formation of mature NK cell by inducing Eomes expression and reveal the differential requirements of NK cell subsets for Nfil3. RNA-sequencing of natural killer (NK) cell subsets
Project description:This study shows that liver Eomes- NK cells are not precursors of classical Eomes+ NK cells but rather constitute a distinct lineage of innate lymphoid cells. Gene profile analyses show that Eomes- NK cells share part of their transcriptional program with NKT cells that includes genes involved in liver homing, NK cell receptors, and several cytokines and cytokine receptors.
Project description:ATAC-seq was performed on peripheral blood NK cells that were CRISPR-edited to knock-out expression of T-BET and EOMES. The following samples were analyzed to elucidate the role of T-BET and EOMES in regulating mature human NK cell chromatin accessibility.
Project description:T-BET and EOMES are key transcription factors in the development of mature NK cells in mice. However, the role of these transcription factors during human NK cell development is less well understood. Therefore, we overexpressed T-BET or EOMES in human umbilical cord blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) and cultured them in vitro in an NK cell differentiation model. On day 21 of culture mature stage 4 (CD56+CD94+CD16-) and stage 5 (CD56+CD94+CD16+) NK cells from T-BET or EOMES overexpression and control cultures were sorted, whereafter mRNA was isolated and transcriptome analysis was performed by RNA sequencing. Evaluation of the transcriptome in mature NK cells with T-BET or EOMES overexpression could reveal the molecular mechanisms of how T-BET and EOMES play a role in terminal NK cell maturation.