ArticleScience immunology2019
Human natural killer cells mediate adaptive immunity to viral antigens.
Article in Science immunology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 105 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
105 citing papers in PubMed, 167 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cytomegalovirus immunity in high-risk liver transplant recipients following preemptive antiviral therapy versus prophylaxis.JCI insight · 2024Trial
- Dynamic Changes in Natural Killer Cell Subset Frequencies in the Absence of Cytomegalovirus Infection.Frontiers in immunology · 2019Trial
- Natural killer cells against viral infection: from basic biology to immunotherapy.Precision clinical medicine · 2026Review
- CD49a expression defines a metabolically robust, cytokine-biased liver NK cell subset in rhesus macaques during lentivirus infection.Immunology and cell biology · 2026Article
- Unconventional functions of natural killer cells in homeostasis and disease.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2026Review
- NK cell dysregulation may potentiate cardiovascular disease in adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV on antiretroviral therapy.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Tumor microenvironment-driven natural killer cell diversity: mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Review
- Resident CD49aScience advances · 2026Article
- CXCR6Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- The recombinant zoster vaccine induces trained immunity in monocytes through persistent downregulation of TGFβ.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Decoding the multifaceted cellular and transcriptomic variations of natural killer cells generated from patients with Parkinson's disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Systems vaccinology identifies immunological correlates of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine response in solid organ transplant recipients.NPJ vaccines · 2025Article
- Application of humanized mice in the safety experiments of antibody drugs.Animal models and experimental medicine · 2025Review
- CD8α marks a Mycobacterium tuberculosis-reactive human NK cell population with high activation potential.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Prospects for potential therapy targeting immune‑associated factors in endometriosis (Review).Molecular medicine reports · 2025Review
- Elephant in the room: natural killer cells don't forget HIV either.Current opinion in HIV and AIDS · 2025Review
- DNA methylation differences between cord and adult white blood cells reflect postnatal immune cell maturation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- From natural defenders to therapeutic warriors: NK cells in HIV immunotherapy.Immunotherapy · 2025Review
- Prior vaccination prevents overactivation of innate immune responses during COVID-19 breakthrough infection.Science translational medicine · 2025Article
- Post-translational modification of NK cell receptors offers clues to antigenic specificity riddle.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
45 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
14 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Adaptive immune responses are defined as antigen sensitization-dependent and antigen-specific responses leading to establishment of long-lived immunological memory. Although natural killer (NK) cells have traditionally been considered cells of the innate immune system, mounting evidence in mice and nonhuman primates warrants reconsideration of the existing paradigm that B and T cells are the sole mediators of adaptive immunity. However, it is currently unknown whether human NK cells can exhibit adaptive immune responses. We therefore tested whether human NK cells mediate adaptive immunity to virally encoded antigens using humanized mice and human volunteers. We found that human NK cells displayed vaccination-dependent, antigen-specific recall responses in vitro, when isolated from livers of humanized mice previously vaccinated with HIV-encoded envelope protein. Furthermore, we discovered that large numbers of cytotoxic NK cells with a tissue-resident phenotype were recruited to sites of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) skin test antigen challenge in VZV-experienced human volunteers. These NK-mediated recall responses in humans occurred decades after initial VZV exposure, demonstrating that NK memory in humans is long-lived. Our data demonstrate that human NK cells exhibit adaptive immune responses upon vaccination or infection. The existence of human memory NK cells may allow for the development of vaccination-based approaches capable of establishing potent NK-mediated memory functions contributing to host protection.
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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.