The activating receptor NKG2D is an anti-fungal pattern recognition receptor
NKG2D is a central activating receptor involved in target recognition and killing by Natural Killer and CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells. The known role of NKG2D is to recognize a family of self-induced stress ligands that are upregulated on stressed cells such as cancerous or virally infected cells. Fungal pathogens are a major threat to human health, infecting more than a billion patients yearly and becoming more common and drug resistant. Here we show that NKG2D plays a critical role in the immune response against fungal infections. NKG2D can recognize fungal pathogens from most major families including Candida, Cryptococcus and Aspergillus species, and mice lacking NKG2D are extremely sensitive to fungal infections in models of both invasive and mucosal infections, making NKG2D an anti-fungal pattern recognition receptor.
Authors
- Nadia Guerra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6159-1241)
- Ronen Ben‐Ami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0628-0798)
- Ofer Mandelboim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9354-1855)
- Maya Korem (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3276-0963)
- Batya Isaacson
- Yoav Charpak‐Amikam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7625-0741)
- Nir Osherov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0433-0096)
- Rebecca Kotzur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0423-7825)
- Ammar Abou-Kandil
- Mark Kournos
- Elidet Gomez-Cesar
- Tal Bagad Brenner
Institutions
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (IL)
- Hadassah Medical Center (IL)
- Concern Foundation (US)
- Imperial College London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-10-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52913-2
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Immune Cell Function and Interaction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.68
Funders
- Israel Cancer Research Fund
- Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum
- Foulkes Foundation
- German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development
- Israel Science Foundation
- Azrieli Foundation
- Ministry of Science and Technology, Israel