NK Cell Receptors
NK cell receptors can also be differentiated based on function. Natural cytotoxicity receptors directly induce apoptosis after binding to ligands that directly indicate infection of a cell. The MHC dependent receptors (described above) use an alternate pathway to induce apoptosis in infected cells. Natural killer cell activation is determined by the balance of inhibitory and activating receptor stimulation i.e. if the inhibitory receptor signaling is more prominent then NK cell activity will be inhibited, similarly if the activating signal is dominant then NK cell activation will result .
NK cell receptor types (with inhibitory as well as some activating members) are differentiated by structure, with a couple of examples to follow:
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