Frontiers in Immunology (Jul 2024)

A novel NKp80-based strategy for universal identification of normal, reactive and tumor/clonal natural killer-cells in blood

  • F. Javier Morán-Plata,
  • F. Javier Morán-Plata,
  • Noemí Muñoz-García,
  • Noemí Muñoz-García,
  • María González-González,
  • María González-González,
  • Julio Pozo,
  • Julio Pozo,
  • Sonia Carretero-Domínguez,
  • Sonia Carretero-Domínguez,
  • Sonia Carretero-Domínguez,
  • Sheila Mateos,
  • Sheila Mateos,
  • Susana Barrena,
  • Susana Barrena,
  • Moncef Belhassen-García,
  • Moncef Belhassen-García,
  • Catarina Lau,
  • Maria Dos Anjos Teixeira,
  • Ana Helena Santos,
  • Ana Yeguas,
  • Ana Balanzategui,
  • Ana Balanzategui,
  • Alejandro Martín García-Sancho,
  • Alejandro Martín García-Sancho,
  • Alejandro Martín García-Sancho,
  • Alejandro Martín García-Sancho,
  • Alberto Orfao,
  • Alberto Orfao,
  • Alberto Orfao,
  • Alberto Orfao,
  • Julia Almeida,
  • Julia Almeida,
  • Julia Almeida,
  • Julia Almeida

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1423689
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15

Abstract

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PurposeNatural killer (NK) cells are traditionally identified by flow cytometry using a combination of markers (CD16/CD56/CD3), because a specific NK-cell marker is still missing. Here we investigated the utility of CD314, CD335 and NKp80, compared to CD16/CD56/CD3, for more robust identification of NK-cells in human blood, for diagnostic purposes.MethodsA total of 156 peripheral blood (PB) samples collected from healthy donors (HD) and patients with diseases frequently associated with loss/downregulation of classical NK-cell markers were immunophenotyped following EuroFlow protocols, aimed at comparing the staining profile of total blood NK-cells for CD314, CD335 and NKp80, and the performance of distinct marker combinations for their accurate identification.ResultsNKp80 showed a superior performance (vs. CD314 and CD335) for the identification of NK-cells in HD blood. Besides, NKp80 improved the conventional CD16/CD56/CD3-based strategy to identify PB NK-cells in HD and reactive processes, particularly when combined with CD16 for further accurate NK-cell-subsetting. Although NKp80+CD16 improved the identification of clonal/tumor NK-cells, particularly among CD56- cases (53%), aberrant downregulation of NKp80 was observed in 25% of patients, in whom CD56 was useful as a complementary NK-cell marker. As NKp80 is also expressed on T-cells, we noted increased numbers of NKp80+ cytotoxic T-cells at the more advanced maturation stages, mostly in adults.ConclusionHere we propose a new robust approach for the identification of PB NK-cells, based on the combination of NKp80 plus CD16. However, in chronic lymphoproliferative disorders of NK-cells, addition of CD56 is recommended to identify clonal NK-cells, due to their frequent aberrant NKp80- phenotype.

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