Expression of the inhibitory Ly49E receptor is not critically involved in the immune response against cutaneous, pulmonary or liver tumours.

Natural killer (NK) lymphocytes are part of the innate immune system and are important in immune protection against tumourigenesis. NK cells display a broad repertoire of activating and inhibitory cell surface receptors that regulate NK cell activity. The Ly49 family of NK receptors is composed of several members that recognize major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) or MHC-I-related molecules. Ly49E is a unique inhibitory member, being triggered by the non-MHC-I-related protein urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) in contrast to the known MHC-I-triggering of the other inhibitory Ly49 receptors. Ly49E also has an uncommon expression pattern on NK cells, including high expression on liver DX5(-) NK cells. Furthermore, Ly49E is the only Ly49 member expressed by epidermal γδ T cells. As γδ T cells and/or NK cells have been shown to be involved in the regulation of cutaneous, pulmonary and liver malignancies, and as uPA is involved in tumourigenesis, we investigated the role of the inhibitory Ly49E receptor in the anti-tumour immune response. We demonstrate that, although Ly49E is highly expressed on epidermal γδ T cells and liver NK cells, this receptor does not play a major role in the control of skin tumour formation or in lung and liver tumour development.