Isolation and characterization of primary NK cells and the enrichment of the KIR2DL1+ population.

Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic innate lymphoid cells that play critical roles in the mitigation of viral infections and cancer through the secretion of cytolytic granules and immunomodulatory cytokines. Abnormalities in NK function can lead to viral infections, autoimmunity, and cancer. The current protocol provides an NK isolation technique to study the signaling pathways downstream to the Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) that serve as key human NK cell function regulators. This procedure enables investigating mechanisms specific to individual KIRs to improve our understanding of NK cell function in health and disease.