Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, University of Bari Medical School, Policlinico, Piazza G. Cesare, 11, 70124, Bari, Italy.
Department of Medicine, Section of Human Anatomy, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
Inflamm Res. 2019 Jan;68(1):19-23. doi: 10.1007/s00011-018-1181-4. Epub 2018 Aug 21.
Natural killer (NK) cells are large granular lymphocytes of the innate immune system, responsible for direct targeting and killing of both virally infected and transformed cells. Under pathological conditions and during inflammation, NK cells extravasate into the lymph nodes and accumulate at inflammatory or tumor sites. The activation of NK cells depends on an intricate balance between activating and inhibitory signals that determines if a target will be susceptible to NK-mediated lysis. Many experimental evidences indicate that NK cells are also involved in several immunoregulatory processes and have the ability to modulate the adaptive immune responses. Many other important aspects about NK cell biology are emerging in these last years. The aim of this review is to elucidate the role of NK cells in tumor angiogenesis and their interaction with mast cells. In fact, it has been observed that NK cells produce pro-angiogenic factors and participate alone or in cooperation with mast cells to the regulation of angiogenesis in both physiological and pathological conditions including tumors.
自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞是先天免疫系统中的大颗粒淋巴细胞，负责直接靶向和杀伤病毒感染和转化的细胞。在病理条件和炎症期间，NK 细胞渗出到淋巴结，并在炎症或肿瘤部位积聚。NK 细胞的激活取决于激活和抑制信号之间的复杂平衡，这决定了靶细胞是否容易受到 NK 介导的裂解。许多实验证据表明，NK 细胞还参与多种免疫调节过程，并具有调节适应性免疫反应的能力。在过去几年中，NK 细胞生物学的许多其他重要方面也在不断涌现。本文综述的目的是阐明 NK 细胞在肿瘤血管生成中的作用及其与肥大细胞的相互作用。事实上，已经观察到 NK 细胞产生促血管生成因子，并在生理和病理条件（包括肿瘤）下，单独或与肥大细胞一起参与血管生成的调节。
