Gene expression profiling of NKG2C+ NK cells generated from inflammatory CD34+DNAM-1brCXCR4+ and Lin-CD34- CD16+CD56- blood precursors

There is limited knowledge on the origin and development of the ample spectrum of human NK cells, particularly of specialized NK subsets. Here, we characterized the NK cell progeny of CD34+DNAM-1bright CXCR4+ precursors that reside in healthy bone marrow and circulate in the peripheral blood (PB) of patients with chronic infections/inflammation. including HIV, HCV or HCMV reactivation after HSC transplantation. Unlike conventional CD34+ precursors they rapidly differentiated in vitro into cytotoxic, IFNγ-secreting CD94/NKG2C+KIR+CD57+ maturing NK cell progenies with HCMV-inhibiting activity. Progeny characterization led also to identification of an additional new PB Lin-CD56-CD16+ precursor giving rise to the same CD94/NKG2C+KIR+CD57+ maturing NK cell progenies. Microarray analysis of NK cell progenies revealed a signature compatible with maturing adaptive NK cells. In vivo circulation of multiple common lymphocyte precursors with rapid development to NKG2C+ NK cell progeny is steadily occurring and may thus be a crucial resource for the prompt control of HCMV. We used microarray to compare the transcriptional profiles of human NKG2C+ NK cells derived from i) CD34+DNAM1brightCXCR4+ precursors, ii) Lin-CD34-CD16+CD56- precursors, iii) peripheral blood. 13 samples of NKG2C+ NK cells derived from mature peripheral blood NK cells (n = 3), CD34+DNAM-1brCXCR4+ progenies (n = 2) and Lin-CD34- CD16+CD56- progenies (n = 8) were analyzed using Clariom D Pico human array (Affymetrix).