Know your immune cells'. Featuring NK cells! 👩‍🚒

1. Natural Killer (NK) cells are part of the innate immune system: provide immediate response to pathogens without prior exposure.

2. NK cells are known for their cytotoxicity: directly kill virus-infected cells and cancer cells without the need for specific antigens. These cells use various mechanisms to eliminate target cells, including releasing cytotoxic granules containing perforin and granzymes, inducing apoptosis, and triggering death receptor pathways.

3. Unlike T cells, NK cells do not possess antigen-specific receptors. Instead, they rely on a balance of activating and inhibitory receptors to distinguish healthy cells from abnormal ones.

4. NK cells also play a role in modulating the adaptive immune response by interacting with other cells. They can influence the development of this immunity through cytokine production and direct cell-to-cell interactions.

5. Recent research suggests that NK cells may exhibit memory-like properties, allowing them to mount faster and more robust responses upon re-encountering specific pathogens.

Image credit: 

NIAID, CC BY 2.0 <https://lnkd.in/dxW6ixfU>, via Wikimedia Commons

https://lnkd.in/d4Z_wym6

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