Teaching Self Control

摘要

Central to the design of an effective immune system is the ability to avoid disastrous consequences of autoimmune reactions in which healthy cells of a host organism are targeted for destruction rather than damaged cells or invading pathogens. In natural killer (NK) cells of the innate immune system, signaling through an array of activating and inhibitory receptors "educates" cells to respond appropriately to self ligands and ligands that signal cell damage or infection.