期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1990
卷号：87
期号：6
页码：2274-2278
DOI：10.1073/pnas.87.6.2274
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：We recently reported that CD3- natural killer (NK) cells express the zeta chain of the T-cell receptor complex (zeta NK) in association with higher molecular weight structures whose expression differs between individual NK cell clones. Because NK cell cytolytic activity is known to be triggered by perturbation of the type III Fc gamma receptor (CD16), we sought to determine whether this activating molecule is included in the zeta NK molecular complex. Biochemical evidence for a physical association between CD16 and zeta NK was obtained by comparing immunoprecipitates formed using monoclonal antibodies reactive with each of these molecules by SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoblotting, and peptide mapping. In both clonal and polyclonal populations of CD3- NK cells, CD16 and zeta NK specifically associated with one another. Functional evidence for a specific association between CD16 and zeta NK in intact cells was obtained by demonstrating a coordinate down-modulation of both of these molecules induced by either phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate or monoclonal antibodies reactive with CD16. Our results suggest that Fc gamma receptor type III (CD16) is included in the zeta NK complex and that this complex is likely to play an important role in NK cell activation.
