Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jun 2014
Depletion of Natural Killer Cells Increases Mice Susceptibility in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pneumonia Model.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is a clinically relevant infection involved in pneumonia in ICUs. Understanding the type of immune response initiated by the host during pneumonia would help defining new strategies to interfere with the bacteria pathogenicity. In this setting, the role of natural killer cells remains controversial. We assessed the role of systemic natural killer cells in a Pseudomonas aeruginosa mouse pneumonia model. ⋯ We report for the first time that natural killer cells play a major role in the mice susceptibility toward a Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced acute pneumonia model.