Natural killer cell and T cell subsets express at their cell surface a repertoire of receptors for
MHC class I molecules, the natural killer cell receptors (NKRs). NKRs are characterized by
the existence of inhibitory and activating isoforms, which are encoded by highly homologous
but separate genes present in the same locus. Inhibitory isoforms express an
intracytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif, whereas activating
isoforms lack any immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif but harbor a charged …