{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T14:29:22Z","timestamp":1792160962629,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769472000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":26,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000024","name":"Canadian Institutes of Health Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["MOP 155906"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MOP 155906"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000024","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000015","name":"Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["707188"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["707188"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000015","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Canadian Cancer Society Scholarship"},{"name":"Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship and Infection, Immunity, Inflammation & Vaccinology (I3V) Graduate Studentship"},{"name":"Cancer Research Training Program of the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute"},{"name":"Dalhousie Medical Research Fund Jean Rivers Sawyer Award"},{"name":"GIVETOLIVE Eric Douglas"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Natural killer (NK) cells are a key component of the innate immune system and are specialized in the recognition and elimination of virally infected, tumor, and otherwise abnormal cells. However, multiple laboratories have shown that NK cells display exquisite MHC-I\u2013dependent memory toward haptens, complex proteins, and peptides in mice lacking RAG proteins, which are devoid of both T cells and B cells but still have intact TCR genes, in addition to abnormal NK cell expansion and activation. Here, we show that the fine antigen specificity of memory NK cells persists in the absence of functional TCR genes. The ability of NK cells to mediate adaptive responses was evaluated using contact hypersensitivity (CHS) responses to chemical haptens and peptides in TCR-\u03b2-\/-\u03b4-\/- mice. Peptide specificity and memory was maintained in these mice as shown by CHS after sensitization with multiple unrelated peptides individually or as a mixture. This was done in conjunction with depletion of key immune subsets including all NK cells, Ly49C\/I+ NK cells, or B cells. In the absence of NK cells, and specifically Ly49C\/I+ NK cells, TCR-\u03b2-\/-\u03b4-\/- mice were unable to exhibit immunological memory responses, similar to what was previously reported for Rag1-\/- mice. Furthermore, depleting B cells did not impact TCR-\u03b2-\/-\u03b4-\/- mice\u2019s ability to exhibit adaptive immune responses. These findings highlight and reinforce the capability of NK cells to form adaptive memory responses to peptides in the presence or absence of T cells, and without the need for functional TCR genes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/immhor\/vlaf083","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T13:36:18Z","timestamp":1769520978000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Peptide-adaptive NK cell memory in the absence of functional TCR genes"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Safyha","family":"Bryan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gayani S","family":"Gamage","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sayanti","family":"Dey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Medina-Luna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS,","place":["Canada"]},{"name":"Dalhousie University Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute, , Halifax, NS,","place":["Canada"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brendon D","family":"Parsons","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS,","place":["Canada"]},{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Alberta , Edmonton, 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