Cytokine-enhanced cytolytic activity of exosomes from NK Cells

Natural killer (NK) cells play key roles in immune surveillance against tumors and viral infection. NK cells distinguish abnormal cells from healthy cells by cell–cell interaction with cell surface proteins and then attack target cells via multiple mechanisms. In addition, extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from NK cells (NK-EVs), including exosomes, possess cytotoxic capacity against tumor cells, but their characteristics and regulation by cytokines remain unknown. Here, we report that EVs derived from human NK-92 cells stimulated with IL-15 + IL-21 show enhanced cytotoxic capacity against tumor cells. Major cytolytic granules, granzyme B and granzyme H, are enriched by IL-15 + IL-21 stimulation in NK-EVs; however, knockout experiments reveal those cytolytic granules are independent of enhanced cytotoxic capacity. To find out the key molecules, mass spectrometry analyses were performed with different cytokine conditions, no cytokine, IL-15, IL-21, or IL-15 + IL-21. We then found that CD226 (DNAM-1) on NK-EVs is enriched by IL-15 + IL-21 stimulation and that blocking antibodies against CD226 reduced the cytolytic activity of NK-EVs. We also show NK-EVs are taken up by target cells via macropinocytosis. Collectively, our findings elucidate the novel properties of NK-EVs and the mechanism of their incorporation into target cells.