PARA 438 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha, Mhc Class I, Natural Killer Cell
23 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
Describe the primary functions of a natural killer (nk) cell and discuss the significance of these functions to human health: critical for surveillance of tumors and microbial infections, 2 primary functions: Release cytoplasmic granules containing perforin & granzymes that induce programmed cell death in target cell. Interferon-gamma (ifn- ), tumor necrosis factor- alpha (tnf- : function in an antigen-independent manner, nk cells recognize and eliminate cells that fail to express. Self mhc class i molecules: the "missing-self hypothesis" postulates that nk cells are activated to kill target cells, including tumor & virus-infected cells, when the nk cell encounters a host cell that lacks "self" Mhc class 1: the contemporary view of the "missing-self hypothesis" postulates that nk cell responses are regulated by the integration of signals from both their activating & inhibitory receptors. If nk cells encounter cells lacking ligands for their activating receptors, no response is initiated.
