Salih Helmut Rainer, Holdenrieder Stefan, Steinle Alexander
Department of Internal Medicine II, Eberhard-Karls-University, Tuebingen, Germany.
Front Biosci. 2008 May 1;13:3448-56. doi: 10.2741/2939.
Natural Killer (NK) cells are capable to recognize and eliminate malignant cells. Anti-tumor responses of NK cells are promoted by the tumor-associated expression of cell stress-inducible ligands of the activating NK receptor NKG2D. Current evidence suggests that established tumors subvert NKG2D-mediated tumor immunosurveillance by releasing NKG2D ligands (NKG2DL). Release of NKG2DL has been observed in a broad variety of human tumor entities and is thought to interfere with NKG2D-mediated tumor immunity in several ways. Further, levels of soluble NKG2DL (sNKG2DL) were also found to be elevated under various non-malignant conditions, although the functional implications remain largely unclear. Here we review and discuss the available data on the prevalence, release, functional impact, and potential clinical value of sNKG2DL.
自然杀伤（NK）细胞能够识别并清除恶性细胞。激活型NK受体NKG2D的细胞应激诱导配体在肿瘤相关表达可促进NK细胞的抗肿瘤反应。目前的证据表明，已形成的肿瘤通过释放NKG2D配体（NKG2DL）来破坏NKG2D介导的肿瘤免疫监视。在多种人类肿瘤实体中均观察到NKG2DL的释放，并且认为其通过多种方式干扰NKG2D介导的肿瘤免疫。此外，在各种非恶性条件下也发现可溶性NKG2DL（sNKG2DL）水平升高，尽管其功能意义在很大程度上仍不清楚。在此，我们综述并讨论关于sNKG2DL的发生率、释放、功能影响及潜在临床价值的现有数据。
