Natural Killer T cell obsession with self-antigens

L Gapin; DI Godfrey; J Rossjohn

Journal article

Natural Killer T cell obsession with self-antigens

L Gapin, DI Godfrey, J Rossjohn

Current Opinion in Immunology | CURRENT BIOLOGY LTD | Published : 2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.coi.2013.01.002

Abstract

Natural Killer T (NKT) cells are distinct lymphocyte lineages that recognize lipid antigens presented by the non-classical Major Histocompatibility Complex molecule CD1d. Two categories of NKT cells, type I and type II, have been described based on T-cell receptor expression and antigenic specificity. In both cases, increasing evidence suggest that recognition of self-antigens by these cells plays an important role not only in their development but also in their regulation of a broad range of immune responses. Here we review recent advances in our understanding of how and when NKT cell autoreactivity manifests itself, how the NKT T cell receptor engages self-antigens and the nature of these ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Dale Godfrey Author

Jamie Rossjohn Author

Related Projects (4)

2007 PROGRAM GRANT - (IMMUNE REGULATION, EFFECTOR FUNCTION AND HUMAN IMMUNOTHERAPY)

The immune system plays an important role in protecting the host from viral and bacterial infections, and inhibits cancer onset and progress..

2007 PROGRAM GRANT - (IMMUNE REGULATION, EFFECTOR FUNCTION AND HUMAN IMMUNOTHERAPY)

The immune system plays an important role in protecting the host from viral and bacterial infections, and inhibits cancer onset and progress..

RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Professor Godfrey is an immunologist with a long standing history as a pioneer in the study of a specialised type of white blood cell, known..

Self-reactivity by NKT cells

NKT cells are a type of lymphocyte with the ability to prevent a broad range of diseases including cancer, autoimmunity, infection and graft..

Grants

Awarded by National Institutes of Health

Funding Acknowledgements

We apologize to colleagues whose works were not cited due to space constraints or omission. We thank members of our respective laboratories and Drs. Philippa Marrack and Olivier Lantz for fruitful discussions. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants (AI092108 and AI090450), the Australian Research Council, and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC). DIG is supported by an NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellowship; JR by an NHMRC Australia Fellowship.