The inhibitory receptor Tim-3 fails to suppress IFN-γ production via the NFAT pathway in NK-cell, unlike that in CD4(+) T cells

BACKGROUND: T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing-3 (Tim-3) is a negative regulator expressed on T cells, and is also expressed on natural killer (NK) cells. The function of Tim-3 chiefly restricts IFNγ-production in T cells, however, the impact of Tim-3 on NK cell function has not been clearly elucidated. RESULTS: In this study, we demonstrated down-regulation of Tim-3 expression on NK cells while Tim-3 is upregulated on CD4(+) T cells during HIV infection. Functional assays indicated that Tim-3 mediates suppression of CD107a degranulation in NK cells and CD4(+) T cells, while it fails to inhibit the production of IFN-γ by NK cells. Analyses of downstream pathways using an antibody to block Tim-3 function demonstrated that Tim-3 can inhibit ERK and NFκB p65 signaling; however, it failed to suppress the NFAT pathway. Further, we found that the NFAT activity in NK cells was much higher than that in CD4(+) T cells, indicating that NFAT pathway is important for promotion of IFN-γ production by NK cells. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, our data show that the expression of Tim-3 on NK cells is insufficient to inhibit IFN-γ production. Collectively, our findings demonstrate a potential mechanism of Tim-3 regulation of NK cells and a target for HIV infection immunotherapy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12865-021-00417-9.