The Viral KSHV Chemokine vMIP-II Inhibits the Migration of Naive and Activated Human NK Cells by Antagonizing Two Distinct Chemokine Receptors

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells able to rapidly kill virus-infected and tumor cells. Two NK cell populations are found in the blood; the majority (90%) expresses the CD16 receptor and also express the CD56 protein in intermediate levels (CD56^Dim CD16^Pos) while the remaining 10% are CD16 negative and express CD56 in high levels (CD56^Bright CD16^Neg). NK cells also reside in some tissues and traffic to various infected organs through the usage of different chemokines and chemokine receptors. Kaposi''s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is a human virus that has developed numerous sophisticated and versatile strategies to escape the attack of immune cells such as NK cells. Here, we investigate whether the KSHV derived cytokine (vIL-6) and chemokines (vMIP-I, vMIP-II, vMIP-III) affect NK cell activity. Using transwell migration assays, KSHV infected cells, as well as fusion and recombinant proteins, we show that out of the four cytokine/chemokines encoded by KSHV, vMIP-II is the only one that binds to the majority of NK cells, affecting their migration. We demonstrate that vMIP-II binds to two different receptors, CX3CR1 and CCR5, expressed by naïve CD56^Dim CD16^Pos NK cells and activated NK cells, respectively. Furthermore, we show that the binding of vMIP-II to CX3CR1 and CCR5 blocks the binding of the natural ligands of these receptors, Fractalkine (Fck) and RANTES, respectively. Finally, we show that vMIP-II inhibits the migration of naïve and activated NK cells towards Fck and RANTES. Thus, we present here a novel mechanism in which KSHV uses a unique protein that antagonizes the activity of two distinct chemokine receptors to inhibit the migration of naïve and activated NK cells.