Identification and characterization of human Natural Killer (NK) lineage restricted progenitors

Natural killer (NK) cells represent one of three lymphoid lineages and play a vital role in controlling viral infections and cancer. In contrast to B and T lymphopoiesis where cellular and regulatory pathways have been extensively characterized, the cellular stages of early human NK-cell commitment remain poorly understood Here we described a novel NK-lineage restricted progenitor (NKP) in fetal development, umbilical cord blood and adult bone marrow. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression genes of this new progenitor. Global gene expression analysis was performed on the NKP, multipotent progenitors LMPP, common lymphoid progenitor candidate and mature NK cells purified from Cord blood CD34+ cells (3-4 replicates, 2 experiments)