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Infection and Immunity, November 2008, p. 5100-5109, Vol. 76, No. 11
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00438-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Role of Natural Killer Cells in Modulating Dendritic Cell Responses to Leishmania amazonensis Infection{triangledown}

Mayra X. Hernandez Sanabria,1 Diego A. Vargas-Inchaustegui,1 Lijun Xin,1 and Lynn Soong1,2*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology,1 Department of Pathology, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas2

Received 9 April 2008/ Returned for modification 13 May 2008/ Accepted 1 September 2008

The importance of the interaction between natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells (DCs) in the expansion of antiviral and antitumor immune responses is well-documented; however, limited information on DC-NK cell interaction during parasitic infections is available. Given that some Leishmania parasites are known to prevent or suppress DC activation, we developed a DC-NK cell coculture system to examine the role of NK cells in modulating the functions of Leishmania-infected DCs. We found that the addition of freshly isolated, resting NK cells significantly promoted the activation of DCs that were preinfected with Leishmania amazonensis promastigotes and that these activated DCs, in turn, stimulated NK cell activation mostly via cell contact-dependent mechanisms. Notably, L. amazonensis amastigote infection failed to activate DCs, and this lack of DC activation could be partially reversed by the addition of preactivated NK (ANK) cells but not resting NK cells. Moreover, the adoptive transfer of ANK cells into L. amazonensis-infected mice markedly increased DC and T-cell activation and reduced tissue parasite loads at 1 and 3 weeks postinfection. These results suggest differential roles of DC-NK cell cross talk at different stages of Leishmania infection and provide new insight into the interplay of components of the innate immune system during parasitic infection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Medical Research Building 3.142, 301 University Blvd., Galveston, TX 77555-1070. Phone: (409) 772-8149. Fax: (409) 747-6869. E-mail: lysoong{at}utmb.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 September 2008.

Editor: J. F. Urban, Jr.

Infection and Immunity, November 2008, p. 5100-5109, Vol. 76, No. 11
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00438-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Dunning, N. (2009). Leishmania vaccines: from leishmanization to the era of DNA technology. Bioscience Horizons 2: 73-82 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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