# LIVER TISSUE-RESIDENT NATURAL KILLER CELLS

> **NIH NIH R01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $190,846

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This proposal is being submitted in response to RFA-AI-16-006, US-China Program for Biomedical
Collaborative Research (USCPBCR) and is based on a long-standing collaboration between Professor
Zhigang Tian (China) and Dr. Wayne Yokoyama (US). It concerns natural killer (NK) cells which are major
components of the innate immune system providing host defense against pathogens and developing tumors.
However, most of what is known about NK cells was derived from study of NK cells in mouse spleen and
human peripheral blood. The collaborators found that the mouse liver contains two populations of NK cells,
conventional NK (cNK) cells that resemble splenic NK cells and which circulate in the vascular system, and
tissue-resident NK (trNK) cells that reside in the liver sinusoids. In published work, the investigators
demonstrated that these cells form distinct NK cell lineages, based on phenotypic and functional analyses and
transcription factor dependence. In preliminary studies, the investigators have identified a unique NK cell in the
human liver which has properties of trNK cells found in mice, indicating that the concept of trNK cells is broadly
applicable across species, suggesting that they have important, conserved biological functions. Thus, they
propose the following Specific Aims to: 1) Study mouse liver trNK cells in sinusoids; 2) Determine role of
mouse trNK cells in liver inflammation; and 3) Study human liver trNK cells. These studies will provide novel
insight into the role of liver-resident NK cells and their contribution to host immune defense.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9896769
- **Project number:** 5R01AI128845-04
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Wayne M. Yokoyama
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $190,846
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-19 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9896769

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9896769, LIVER TISSUE-RESIDENT NATURAL KILLER CELLS (5R01AI128845-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9896769. Licensed CC0.

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