Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29592963›Full record

ArticleJournal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950)2018

Single Degranulations in NK Cells Can Mediate Target Cell Killing.

Lavesh A Gwalani, Jordan S Orange

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
69citing papers in PubMed
4.7field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

69 citing papers in PubMed, 113 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Methods for Probing NK Cell Surveillance of Antigen Presentation.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
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  7. Article
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  10. The effect of COVID-19 and sex differences on natural killer cell cytotoxicity.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025
    Article
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
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  19. Article
  20. Article

9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Lavesh A GwalaniDepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, and Center for Human Immunobiology, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.
Jordan S OrangeDepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, and Center for Human Immunobiology, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030 orange@bcm.edu.
Baylor College of Medicine · US

Funding

Directing Function at the Natural Killer Cell Secretory Immunological SynapseR01AI067946 · NIAID · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ORANGE, JORDAN SCOTT · 2007 to 2019
$4.8M
Immunology Scientist Training ProgramT32AI053831 · NIAID · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · PI CORRY, DAVID B · 2003 to 2018
$4.2M
Directing Function at the Natural Killer Cell Secretory Immunological SynapseR37AI067946 · NIAID · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI Jordan Scott Orange · 2024 to 2026
$1.5M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI067946NIAID NIH HHS R37 AI067946NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI053831
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

NK cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes important in defense against viral infection and cancer. NK cells mediate cytotoxicity predominantly through directed secretion of lytic granules, which are specialized lysosome-related organelles, containing effector molecules such as perforin and granzymes. Although many requirements for lytic granule transport to, and secretion at, the NK cell lytic synapse are known, the minimum number of degranulation events required by an NK cell to kill its target is unknown. We performed high-resolution four-dimensional confocal microscopy of human NK-target cell conjugates to quantify NK cell degranulation (using a degranulation indicator, LAMP-1-pHluorin) as well as target cell death. Despite containing almost 200 granules, we found that an individual NK cell needed only two to four degranulation events, on average, to mediate target cell death. Although NK cells released approximately one-tenth of their total lytic granule reserve upon a single target, they required just over one-hundredth of their total lytic granules to kill a target cell. Importantly, the kinetics of NK cell killing correlated to the size of and the amount of effector molecules contained within lytic granules, as well as the temporal, but not spatial, organization of degranulation events. Thus, our study answers a fundamental question as to how many degranulation events it takes for a human NK cell to kill its target.

Indexed as

Cell DegranulationCell LineCytotoxicity, ImmunologicHumansKiller Cells, Natural

Identifiers

PMID29592963
PMCPMC6020067
OpenAlexW2794989655

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.