Evidence for CD16a-mediated NK Cell Stimulation in Antibody-mediated Kidney Transplant Rejection.

BACKGROUND: Natural killer (NK) cells localize in the microcirculation in antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) and have been postulated to be activated by donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies triggering their CD16a Fc receptors. However, direct evidence for NK cell CD16a triggering in ABMR is lacking. We hypothesized that CD16a-inducible NK cell-selective transcripts would be expressed in human ABMR biopsies and would offer evidence for CD16a triggering. METHODS: We stimulated human NK cells through CD16a in vitro, characterized CD16a-inducible transcripts, and studied their expression in human kidney transplant biopsies with ABMR and in an extended human cell panel to determine their selectivity. RESULTS: In NK cells, CD16a-stimulation induced increased expression of 276 transcripts (FC>2x, FDR

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