Natural Killer (NK) cell

Investigating the role of NK cells in BCG vaccine induced immunity.

We have significant evidence that in both human infants and neonatal calves the success of BCG vaccination against TB is linked to the activity of natural killer (NK) cells.

The work conducted by this team is currently funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) VALIDATE network, and is a collaborative study with the Pirbright Institute and the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.

We aim to dissect the function and phenotype of NK cells in young humans and calves to further understand BCG vaccine induced immunity.

Team members: Lindsey Waddell

Team partners: Iman Satti (PI) and Helen McShane at the Jenner Institute, and John Hammond at the Pirbright Institute

Key references:

Hamilton, C. A., Mahan, S., Entrican, G., & Hope, J. C. (2016). Interactions between natural killer cells and dendritic cells favour T helper1-type responses to BCG in calves. Vet. Res. 47(1), 85. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13567-016-0367-4

Sanderson, N. D., Norman, P. J., Guethlein, L. A., Ellis, S. A., Williams, C., Breen, M., Park, S. D., Magee, D. A., Babrzadeh, F., Warry, A., Watson, M., Bradley, D. G., MacHugh, D. E., Parham, P., & Hammond, J. A. (2014). Definition of the cattle killer cell Ig-like receptor gene family: comparison with aurochs and human counterparts. J. Immunol. 193(12), 6016–6030. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1401980

Boysen, P., & Storset, A. K. (2009). Bovine natural killer cells. Veterinary immunology and immunopathology, 130(3-4), 163–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetimm.2009.02.017