ReviewMolecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.)2012
Natural killer (NK) cells in antibacterial innate immunity: angels or devils?
Review in Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 151 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Immune-Enhancing Enteral Nutrition Enriched with or without Beta-Glucan on Immunomodulation in Critically Ill Patients.Nutrients · 2016Trial
- Influence of a probiotic Lactobacillus casei strain on the colonisation with potential pathogenic streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus in the nasopharyngeal space of healthy men with a low baseline NK cell activity.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2015Trial
- An overview of innate cellular immune responses against hypervirulentEmerging microbes & infections · 2026Review
- Innate immune response to Streptococcus suis infection: advances and future challenges.Veterinary research · 2026Review
- Ag85A-PEGylated Propolis Nanoparticles Exhibit Intracellular Antimycobacterial and Host-Protective Activities AgainstInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Unveiling the sensing potential of innate lymphoid cells.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Antimicrobial proteins and peptides in pregnancy: Guardians of the maternal-fetal frontier.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Dynamic changes of natural killer cell immunophenotypes and receptors according to the mortality in the intra-abdominal murine sepsis model.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2025Article
- Intravenous iRGD-Guided, RBC-Membrane Camouflaged Lactococcus Lactis Remodels Cold NSCLC and Enhances PD-1 Blockade.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Modulation of pulmonary immune functions by theFrontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Innate Immune Mechanisms in Normal and Adverse Pregnancy.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- Frailty Index-laboratory and lymphocyte subset patterns in predicting 28-day mortality among elderly sepsis patients: a multicenter observational cohort study.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Observational
- Dynamic changes in peripheral blood lymphocyte trajectory predict the clinical outcomes of sepsis.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Multi-omic analysis of PBMCs in sepsis reveals widespread cytotoxic dysfunction and an increased population ofFrontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- MCP5, a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein regulated by both the Hk1-Rrp1 and Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS pathways, is required for the immune evasion of Borrelia burgdorferi.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Gene expression of kynurenine pathway enzymes in depression and following electroconvulsive therapy.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2024Article
- Review
- Gestational diabetes augments group B Streptococcus infection by disrupting maternal immunity and the vaginal microbiota.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Interferon-epsilon is a novel regulator of NK cell responses in the uterus.EMBO molecular medicine · 2024Article
- The iNKT cell ligand α-GalCer prevents murine septic shock by inducing IL10-producing iNKT and B cells.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells were first described as immune leukocytes that could kill tumor cells and soon after were reported to kill virus-infected cells. In the mid-1980s, 10 years after their discovery, NK cells were also demonstrated to contribute to the fight against bacterial infection, particularly because of crosstalk with other leukocytes. A wide variety of immune cells are now recognized to interact with NK cells through the production of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, IL-15 and IL-18, which boost NK cell activities. The recent demonstration that NK cells express pattern recognition receptors, namely Toll-like and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors, led to the understanding that these cells are not only under the control of accessory cells, but can be directly involved in the antibacterial response thanks to their capacity to recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Interferon (IFN)-γ is the predominant cytokine produced by activated NK cells. IFN-γ is a key contributor to antibacterial immune defense. However, in synergy with other inflammatory cytokines, IFN-γ can also lead to deleterious effects similar to those observed during sepsis. Accordingly, as the main source of IFN-γ in the early phase of infection, NK cells display both beneficial and deleterious effects, depending on the circumstances.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.