Fig. 6: sMIC abrogates the effector polyfunctionality of NK cells and polarizes NK cells to possess a pro-inflammatory phenotype.

Primary human NK cells were cultured with recombinant soluble 100 ng/ml of sMICA for 24 h in the absence and presence of the sMIC-clearing mAb B10G5. In total, 30 µL of cell suspension was loaded onto an IsoCode chip with a 32-plex antibody array for the measurement of secreted proteins. Polyfunctional Strength Index (PSI) was calculated as the percentage of polyfunctional cells in the sample, multiplied by the intensities of the secreted cytokines. a Bar graph representing the effector polyfunctionality strength index (PSI) of NK cells. b Single-cell functional heatmap illustrating differences in the single-cell secretion frequencies of various individual cytokines or combinations of cytokines. Each sample or condition is a row of the heatmap, while each column corresponds to the secretion of a specific cytokine or a combination of cytokines. The dot(s) in each column indicate which cytokine(s) are represented by that column. Secretion frequency is denoted by the shade of orange color; the darker the orange color, the more frequently the corresponding cytokine(s) were secreted by a specific sample or condition, as a percentage of profiled single cells.