Roles of natural killer cells in antiviral immunity

•NK cells can kill virus-infected cells and protect against severe infections.•Long-lived memory NK cells may develop after vaccination or infection.•NK cells are potent regulatory of antiviral T and B cell responses.•The role of NK cells in human infection is complex and context-dependent.

Natural killer (NK) cells are important in immune defense against virus infections. This is predominantly considered a function of rapid, innate NK-cell killing of virus-infected cells. However, NK cells also prime other immune cells through the release of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and other cytokines. Additionally, NK cells share features with long-lived adaptive immune cells and can impact disease pathogenesis through the inhibition of adaptive immune responses by virus-specific T and B cells. The relative contributions of these diverse and conflicting functions of NK cells in humans are poorly defined and likely context-dependent, thereby complicating the development of therapeutic interventions. Here we focus on the contributions of NK cells to disease in diverse virus infections germane to human health.

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