These findings suggest there are different pathways associated wi

These findings suggest there are different pathways associated with NK cell activation that overlap and exhibit varying degrees of multiplicity. Our inhibition studies indicate that successful LLT1 signalling requires Src-PTK, p38 and ERK pathways with the latter two possibly working in tandem. Inhibition of PKC, PI3K and calcineurin exhibited no affect upon LLT1-stimulated IFN-γ production. While our phosphorylation assay confirmed the importance of the ERK pathway to LLT1 signalling, the lack of positive phosphorlyation data associated with p38 does not completely rule out its importance

to LLT1 function. One possibility is our current phosphorylation assay may not be sufficiently sensitive to detect an increase in p38 phosphorylation upon LLT1 stimulation. Previously, we have shown that 2B4-dependent IFN-γ production is exclusively dependent upon the see more p38 pathway and inhibition of this pathway completely eliminates IFN-γ production [9]. The probable signalling pathway of LLT1-mediated IFN-γ production is schematically shown in Fig. 7. The complete elimination of LLT1-associated IFN-γ production was not observed upon inhibition of either the ERK or p38 pathways, suggesting that neither pathway is the exclusive downstream mechanism of LLT1 signalling. IFN-γ plays an important MEK inhibitor role in the early response to intracellular infection and consequently IFN-γ is the major cytokine produced by NK

cells upon their detection of infected or cancerous cells [28]. As NK cells do not store presynthesized IFN-γ protein for rapid secretion, NK cells must constitutively express

a quantity of IFN-γ mRNA to facilitate rapid translation of IFN-γ upon stimulation [29–31]. NK cells Rolziracetam are capable of secreting detectable levels of IFN-γ within 5 h of detecting the presence of infection [32]. Our time point analysis of LLT1-stimulated IFN-γ production indicates detectable IFN-γ is present in as little as 6 h after LLT1 ligation. This suggests that LLT1 has a role in the rapid synthesis of de novo IFN-γ protein during the earliest stages of infection. Our analysis of IFN-γ mRNA over various time points after LLT1 ligation indicates that LLT1 ligation does not alter IFN-γ transcription. As LLT1 has been clearly demonstrated to stimulate IFN-γ secretion, and IFN-γ is not stored by cells but secreted immediately after synthesis [33], all evidence suggests LLT1 must stimulate IFN-γ production via some process of post-transcriptional or translational modification. There is precedence for such a model of immune cell cytokine production. CD28 is a stimulator of IL-2 production in T cells. CD28 mediates IL-2 production by activating the NF90 AU-binding protein, which binds an AU-rich element (ARE) in the 3′ UTR (un-translated region) of IL-2 mRNA, thereby stabilizing the mRNA allowing the rate of translation to increase [34]. Human IFN-γ is also known to be subject to post-transcriptional control.

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