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The killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) locus comprises a variable and rapidly evolving set of genes encoding multiple inhibitory and activating receptors. The activating receptors recently evolved from the inhibitory receptors and both bind HLA class I and probably also class I-like structures induced by viral infection. Although generally considered natural killer (NK) cell receptors, KIR are also expressed by a large fraction of effector memory T cells, which slowly accumulate during human life. These effector memory cells are functionally similar to NK cells, as they are immediate effector cells that are cytotoxic and produce IFN-γ. However, different rules apply to NK and T cells with respect to KIR expression and function. For example, KIR tend to modulate signals driven by the T-cell receptor (TCR) rather than to act independently, and use different signal transduction pathways to modulate only a subset of effector functions. The most important difference may lie in the rules governing tolerance: while NK cells with activating KIR binding self-HLA are hyporesponsive, the same is unlikely to apply to T cells. We argue that the expression of activating KIR on virus-specific T cells carrying TCR that weakly cross-react with autoantigens can unleash the autoreactive potential of these cells. This may be the case in rheumatoid arthritis, where cytomegalovirus-specific KIR2DS2+ T cells might cause vasculitis. Thus, the rapid evolution of activating KIR may have allowed for efficient NK-cell control of viruses, but may also have increased the risk that slowly evolving T-cell responses to persistent pathogens derail into autoimmunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activation of MHC class II-restricted helper T cells is paramount to adaptive immune responses. Vaccine development could therefore benefit from improved ways of targeting antigens into MHC class II molecules. In recent years, the natural pathways of MHC class II antigen presentation have been exploited to achieve this goal. First, antigenic proteins and peptides have been modified to facilitate receptor-mediated uptake by professional antigen-presenting cells. Second, DNA constructs containing specific targeting sequences have been used to direct endogenously synthesized antigens to the MHC class II compartments. Both strategies proved to be highly effective. We review these data and describe how this knowledge is currently applied to the design of vaccines that activate helper T cells in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Association of anticytomegalovirus seropositivity with more severe joint destruction and more frequent joint surgery in rheumatoid arthritis," by Matthias Pierer and colleagues in the June 2012 issue.