uterine natural killer cell 2, human
uterine natural killer cell 2, human
A uterine natural killer subset that is present in the endometrial lining during the non-pregnant state (Garcia-Alonso et al., 2021) and in the decidua during pregnancy (Vento-Tormo et al., 2018), peaking in the first trimester. It expresses the uterine resident marker CD49a and is distinguished from uNK1 and uNK3 by the absence of CD39, CD103 (Whettlock et al., 2022), and CD160 (Marečková et al., 2024), with ITGB2 serving as a defining marker (Vento-Tormo et al., 2018). Functionally, it produces more cytokines upon stimulation than uNK1, suggesting a role in immune defense, and secretes XCL1 chemokines, facilitating interactions with maternal dendritic cells and fetal extravillous trophoblasts (Vento-Tormo et al., 2018).