The activating receptor NKG2D is an anti-fungal pattern recognition receptor

Yoav Charpak-Amikam, Mark Kournos, Rebecca Kotzur, Batya Isaacson, Tal Bagad Brenner, Elidet Gomez-Cesar, Ammar Abou-Kandil, Ronen Ben-Ami, Maya Korem, Nadia Guerra, Nir Osherov, Ofer Mandelboim*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

NKG2D is a central activating receptor involved in target recognition and killing by Natural Killer and CD8+ 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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8664
JournalNature Communications
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

Funding

FundersFunder number
Foulkes Foundation
Israel Cancer Research Fund
Azrieli Foundation
Israel Innovation Authority62615
German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development1412-414.13/2017
ISF Israel-China2554/18
MOST-DKFZ3-14931
Ministry of Science and Technology, Israel3-14764

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