Sun Joseph C, Lanier Lewis L
Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Cancer Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0414, USA.
Eur J Immunol. 2009 Aug;39(8):2059-64. doi: 10.1002/eji.200939435.
Since their discovery three decades ago, NK cells have been classified as cells of the innate immune system. NK cells were shown to respond rapidly and non-specifically to infection, and were thought to act as a functional "bridge" to sustain the early innate immune response until the later adaptive immune responses could be mounted. In light of new findings showing how NK cells possess nearly all of the features of adaptive immunity including memory, we propose the placement of NK cells as an "evolutionary bridge" between innate and adaptive immunity.
自三十年前被发现以来，自然杀伤细胞（NK细胞）一直被归类为先天免疫系统的细胞。研究表明，NK细胞对感染反应迅速且无特异性，被认为起到功能性“桥梁”的作用，以维持早期先天免疫反应，直到后期适应性免疫反应启动。鉴于新的研究发现表明NK细胞几乎具备适应性免疫的所有特征，包括记忆，我们建议将NK细胞定位为先天免疫和适应性免疫之间的“进化桥梁”。
