AUTHOR=Carapito Raphael , Aouadi Ismail , Ilias Wassila , Bahram Seiamak 

TITLE=Natural Killer Group 2, Member D/NKG2D Ligands in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2017

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00368

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2017.00368

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=NKG2D is an invariant activatory receptor present on subsets of NK and T lymphocytes. It stimulates the cytolytic effector response upon engagement of its various stress-induced ligands (NKG2DL). Malignant transformation and conditioning treatment prior to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) are stress factors leading to the activation of the NKG2D/NKG2DL signaling in clinical settings. In the context of HCT, NKG2D bearing cells can kill both tumor and healthy cells expressing NKG2DL. The NKG2D/NKG2DL engagement has therefore a key role in the regulation of one of the most salient issues in allogeneic HCT, i.e. maintaining a balance between graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The present review summarizes the current state of our knowledge pertaining to the role of the NKG2D and NKG2DL in HCT.