Identification and Analysis of Natural Killer Cells in Murine Nasal Passages

Natural killer (NK) cells in the upper respiratory airways are not well characterized. In the current study, we sought to characterize and functionally assess murine nasal NK cells. functions of nasal NK cells, C57BL/6 mice depleted of NK cells after treatment with PK136 antibody were nasally infected with influenza virus PR8. stimulation with phorbol 12-myristate-13-acetate plus ionomycin or IL(interleukin)-12 plus IL-18 were dampened in nasal NK cells, and the depletion of NK cells led to an increased influenza virus titer in nasal passages., nasal NK cells play important roles in the host defense against nasal influenza virus infection