Myc controls IL-15-driven expansion and translational machinery of NK cells

Abstract

Myc is a pleiotropic transcription factor involved in cancer, cell proliferation, and metabolism. Its regulation and function in Natural Killer (NK) cells, which are innate cytotoxic lymphocytes important to control viral infections and cancer, remain poorly defined. Here we show that mice deficient for Myc in NK cells presented a severe reduction in these lymphocytes. Myc was required for NK cell development and expansion in response to the key cytokine interleukin (IL)-15, which induced Myc through transcriptional and posttranslational mechanisms. Mechanistically, Myc ablation in vivo largely impacted NK cells ribosomagenesis, reducing their translation and expansion capacities. Similar results were obtained by inhibiting MYC in human NK cells. Impairing translation by pharmacological intervention phenocopied the consequences of deleting or blocking MYC in vitro. Notably, mice lacking Myc in NK cells exhibited defective anticancer immunity, which reflected their decreased numbers of mature NK cells exerting suboptimal cytotoxic functions. These results indicate that MYC is a central node in NK cells, connecting IL-15 to translational fitness, expansion, and anticancer immunity.