Fluidigm Corporation Commercial Tutorial

Human natural killer (NK) cells are critical immune effector cells that control viral infection and malignancy. Their importance is underscored by the severe disease that occurs when their development is impaired or dysregulated. Despite their importance, we have a poor understanding of the molecular events that drive their differentiation from common lymphoid progenitors. These events are thought to occur in tissue, including secondary lymphoid tissue, as a spectrum of developmental intermediates with increasingly restricted lineage potential that can be isolated from tissue and give rise to mature, functional NK cells. Here, we seek to define the spatial localization of NK cell developmental intermediates within human secondary lymphoid tissue to answer key questions about human NK cell development. Specifically, we aim to understand the spatial relationship between NK cell precursors and other immune cells and relevant cytoarchitecture using Imaging Mass Cytometry™. Our preliminary findings provide an exciting foundation for the first in situ ‘road map’ of human innate immune cell development in tissue.