Cutting Edge: A Dual Role for Type I IFNs during Polyinosinic-Polycytidylic Acid-Induced NK Cell Activation

NK cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that are most efficient at fulfilling their functions after a phase of priming provided by cytokines and/or accessory cells. Although type I IFNs are known to be important in this process, it remains unclear whether they act directly on NK cells or indirectly on accessory cells. We used adoptive transfer experiments and mixed bone marrow chimeras to dissect the requirement for type I IFN signaling in response to the dsRNA analog polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid. We demonstrate that optimal NK cell priming requires type I IFNs to signal on both NK cells and accessory cells. In the absence of IL-15, the residual NK cell activation was strictly dependent on cell-intrinsic IFNAR signaling in NK cells. Our results suggest that type I IFNs produced following viral infection simultaneously target accessory cells for IL-15 transpresentation and NK cells themselves and that these two pathways cooperate for NK cell priming. The Journal of Immunology, 2011, 187: 2084-2088.