Significance Natural killer (NK) cells are known for their role in defense against viruses and cancer. Their activity is regulated, in part, by killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) that bind to polymorphic human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules. The KIR family includes an activation receptor of unknown function, KIR2DS4. Here, we show that KIR2DS4 binding to HLA-C*05:01 is dependent on specific peptides that include a Trp at position 8 of 9-mer peptides associated with HLA-C*05:01. Through sequence homology, we identified a highly conserved peptide sequence in bacterial recombinase A that binds to HLA-C*05:01 and stimulates KIR2DS4 + NK cells. We predict that over 1,000 bacterial species contain this epitope and propose that NK cells contribute also to immune defense against bacteria.
Journal article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
2019-06-25T00:00:00+00:00
116
12964 - 12973
9