Stress-Induced In Vivo Recruitment of Human Cytotoxic Natural Killer Cells Favors Subsets with Distinct Receptor Profiles and Associates with Increased Epinephrine Levels

Abstract

The acute epinephrine-induced stress response was characterized by rapid accumulation of mature and functional NK cells in the peripheral circulation. This is in line with studies using other acute stressors and supports the role of the acute stress response in rapidly mobilizing the innate immune system to counteract incoming threats.