Natural killer cell sensing of infected cells compensates deficient Toll-like receptor but not IFN-I activity for mouse resistance to cytomegalovirus

Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are the major source of type I IFN (IFN-I) in vivo during Murine Cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection. This response requires pDC-intrinsic MyD88-dependent signaling by Toll Like Receptors 7/9. Provided that they express appropriate recognition receptors such as Ly49H, Natural Killer (NK) cells can directly sense and kill MCMV-infected cells. While MyD88- and Ly49H-dependent responses can contribute to MCMV control, the objective is to understand the relative importance of these 3 mechanisms.

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