role of common-gamma chain cytokines in nk cell development and function perspectives for immunotherapycommon-gamma链细胞因子在nk细胞发育和功能角度对免疫疗法.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Volume 2011, Article ID 861920, 16 pages doi:10.1155/2011/861920 Review Article Role of Common-Gamma Chain Cytokines in NK Cell Development and Function: Perspectives for Immunotherapy Raffaella Meazza,1 Bruno Azzarone,2, 3 Anna Maria Orengo,4 and Silvano Ferrini4 1 Immunology Unit, Department of Translational Oncology, National Institute for Cancer Research, Largo R. Benzi 10, 16132 Genoa, Italy 2 UMR 1014 INSERM, Building. Lavoisier, Paul Brousse Hospital, 94800, Villejuif, France 3 University Paris-Sud Paris XI, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France 4 Immunotherapy Unit, Department of Translational Oncology, National Institute for Cancer Research, Largo R. Benzi 10, 16132 Genoa, Italy Correspondence should be addressed to Silvano Ferrini, silvano.ferrini@istge.it Received 28 January 2011; Accepted 14 March 2011 Academic Editor: Roberto Biassoni Copyright © 2011 Raffaella Meazza et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. NK cells are components of the innate immunity system and play an important role as a first-line defense mechanism against viral infections and in tumor immune surveillance. Their development and their functional activities are controlled by several factors among which cytokines sharing the usage of the common cytokine-receptor gamma chain play a pivotal role. In particular, IL-2, IL-7, IL-15, and IL-21 are the members of this family predominantly involved in NK cell biology. In this paper, we will address their role in NK cell ontogeny, regulation of functional activities, develop