CCR2 defines a distinct population of NK cells and mediates their migration during influenza virus infection in mice.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that play an important role in control of viral infections. We recently showed that intranasal infection of mice with influenza virus induced the accumulation of NK cells in the airways. NK cells however did not proliferate in the airways or in the draining lymph node, but in the bone marrow mainly. As also monocyte-precursors undergo vigorous proliferation in the bone marrow (BM) during infections and then egress CCR2-dependently, we decided to determine the role of CCR2 in NK cell migration during intranasal influenza virus infection. We show that a unique population of NK cells in the BM expressed CCR2 and that monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), one of the CCR2 ligands, was produced in the airways of influenza virus infected mice. Analysis of BM chimeric mice reconstituted with a mix of wild-type (wt) and CCR2-deficient BM cells showed that upon influenza virus infection, a significantly lower proportion of CCR2-deficient than wt NK cells was recovered from the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Taken together, our data demonstrate that during influenza virus infection a proportion of NK cells migrate in a CCR2-dependent fashion.