Review Article NK Cells in Mucosal Defense against Infection

Copyright © 2014 Daria Ivanova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Conventional natural killer cells (NK cells) provide continual surveillance for cancer and rapid responses to infection.They develop in the bone marrow, emerge as either NK precursor cells, immature, or mature cells, and disperse throughout the body. In the periphery NK cells provide critical defense against pathogens and cancer and are noted to develop features of adaptive immune responses. In the tightly regulated and dynamic mucosal tissues, they set up residency via unknownmechanisms and from sources that are yet to be defined. Once resident, they appear to have the ability to functionally mature dependent on the mucosal tissue microenvironment. Mucosal NK cells play a pivotal role in early protection through their cytolytic function and IF