Adhesion and activation molecules expressed by human natural killer cells

Our study concerns the expression and the regulation of adhesion and activation receptors on human NK cells. In particular we provide evidence on: a) the expression on fresh human NK cells of VLA-4, VLA-5 and VLA-6, extracellular matrix (ECM) receptors of integrin family capable of mediating their adhesion to FN and LM; b) the role of PKC on the regulation of CD 16, a differentiation antigen associated with Fc-gamma-R type III expressed by all NK cells, which mediate ADCC activity and trigger lymphokine production