Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells are regarded as the host's first line of defense against viral infection. Moreover, the involvement of NK cells in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been documented. However, the specific mechanism and biological changes of NK cells in COPD development have not been determined. In this study, we extracted NK cells from the peripheral blood of 18 COPD patients who were recovering from an acute exacerbation and 45 healthy donors (HDs), then we labeled NK cells with different antibodies and analyzed with flow cytometry. The data showed that the frequencies of total NK cells in the peripheral blood of COPD patients were lower compared with HDs. Moreover, the inhibitory receptors on NK cells expressed higher levels and the expression of activating receptors were generally low. Importantly, both the expression levels of CD96 in NK cells and the frequencies of CD96(+) NK cells were significantly upregulated in COPD patients. These findings suggest that surface receptor CD96 from NK cells may be a risk factor in the evolution of COPD.