Techniques For Studying Murine Natural Killer Cells in Defense Against Viral Infection

Natural killer (NK) cells constitute an important frontline defense against a range of viruses including herpes viruses, human immunodeficiency virus type 1, and hepatitis viruses (1 ). NK cell deficiencies can lead to serious, life-threatening virus infections, with herpesviruses being of particular importance (2 ). In recent years, considerable knowledge has been gained on a range of aspects of NK cell biology, such as the nature and role of receptors expressed by NK cells; NK cell responsiveness to cytokines; and the cytokines they produce. Many of these studies have made use of animal models. Mouse models have been useful for studying a number of aspects of virus-NK cell interactions, including the cytokine response following virus infection (3 ); defining host loci controlling NK cell function following virus infection, notably Cmvl and Rmpl (4 ,5 ); and the role of vims-encoded proteins in immune evasion from NK cell surveillance (6 ). Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV), which a member of the herpesvirus family, and ectromelia virus (EV), a poxvirus, serve as important model systems for ongoing research in these areas. Much remains to be learned about how NK cells contribute to the control of vims infections.