Characterization of the biological and transcriptomic signatures of natural killer cells derived from cord blood and peripheral blood

Longitudinal studies have indicated the pivotal role of natural killer cells (NKs) in the elimination of certain infections and malignancies. Currently, perinatal blood (PB) and cord blood (CB) have been considered with promising prospective for autogenous and allogeneic NKs transplantation, yet the similarities and differences at the biological and molecular levels are largely obscure. We isolated mononuclear cells (MNCs) from PB and CB, and compared the biological phenotypes of resident NKs by flow cytometry and cell counting. Then, we turned to our well-established “3ILs” strategy and co-culture for NK cell activation and cytotoxicity analyses, respectively. Finally, with the aid of transcriptomic analyses, we further dissected the signatures of PB-NKs and CB-NKs. CB-NKs revealed superiority in cellular vitality over PB-NKs, together with variations in subpopulations. CB-NKs showed higher cytotoxicity over PB-NKs against K562 cells. Furthermore, we found both NKs revealed multifaceted conservations and differences in gene expression profiling and genetic variations, together with gene subsets and signaling pathway. Collectively, both NKs revealed multifaceted similarities and diverse variations at the cellular and transcriptomic levels. Our findings would benefit the further exploration of the biological and transcriptomic properties of CB-NKs and PB-NKs, together with the development of NK cell-based cytotherapy.