Biological Functions Of MKLRL1, A C-type Lectin-like Inhibitory Receptor Of Mouse And Its Gene Therapy For Cancer

The charateritiscs of mKLRL1, a member of the family of inhibitory receptors belonging to C-type lectin-like receptors, was investigated in the present study. The results showed that the expression levels of mKLRL1 decreased during DCs maturation, and results also demonstrated that mKLRL1 could negatively regulate the function of DCs. Our results aslo indicated that tumor cell line CT26 might express the potential ligand(s) of mKLRL1,which provided a new clue to identify the ligand(s) of mKLRL1. It is showed that pretreatment of target cells CT26 with mKLRL1-Fc fusion protein could enhance the NK-mediated cytotoxicity, and gene silence of mKLRL1 in vivo could enhance the anti-tumor immunity of tumor-bearing mice. Our results demonstrated that mKLRL1 could not only negatively regulate the functions of DCs, but also inhibit the cytotoxicity of NK cells, which might provide a new target for development of immunotherapy strategies for cancer.