Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILCs) are a recently described heterogeneous population of non-T, non-B lymphocytes. They are highly abundant at mucosal interfaces and, unlike T and B cells, they do not express somatically rearranged antigen-specific receptors. ILCs may be seen as the innate counterparts of T cells, but, major ILC deficiencies in humans appear to be clinically silent in modern conditions of hygiene and medicine, provided that T and B functions are preserved. NK cells are the founder members of this family and were originally classified in group 1 ILCs with ILC1s, due to similarities in cytokine production and development between these two types of cell. The classification of the ILC subsets was subsequently reviewed and five groups were defined on the basis of cytokine production and the discovery of specific transcription factors determining the different lineages. ILCs include NK cells, lymphoid tissue-inducer (LTi) cells and three other main subsets: ILC1s, ILC2s and ILC3s. The nature of distinct ILC1 population in mice and human is not consensual due to the high degree of similarity between ILCs and NK cells and their plastic relationships in some context. In this review, we will discuss the characteristics currently used for the phenotyping of NK cells and ILC1s in mice and humans, in the context of cancers especially, in which inappropriate discrimination between these two cell types can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the specific impact of their targeting on tumors. Here, we suggest that multidimensional molecular controls, with the co-ordination of ontogeny-related signals, tissue-specific and tumor microenvironment-derived signals, determine the identity of NK cells and ILC1s. All these molecular stratifications contribute to the construction of cell fate for NK cells and ILC1s and account for the difficulties distinguishing between these two groups of cells.

先天淋巴细胞 (ILC) 是最近描述的非 T、非 B 淋巴细胞的异质群体。它们在黏膜界面非常丰富，并且与 T 细胞和 B 细胞不同，它们不表达体细胞重排的抗原特异性受体。ILC 可能被视为 T 细胞的先天对应物，但是，只要 T 和 B 功能得以保留，人类的主要 ILC 缺陷在现代卫生和医学条件下似乎在临床上是沉默的。NK 细胞是该家族的创始成员，由于这两种细胞在细胞因子产生和发育方面的相似性，最初被归类为具有 ILC1 的第 1 组 ILC。随后审查了 ILC 亚群的分类，并根据细胞因子的产生和确定不同谱系的特定转录因子的发现定义了五个组。ILC 包括 NK 细胞、淋巴组织诱导 (LTi) 细胞和其他三个主要亚群：ILC1、ILC2 和 ILC3。由于 ILC 和 NK 细胞之间的高度相似性以及它们在某些情况下的可塑性关系，小鼠和人类中不同 ILC1 群体的性质是不一致的。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论目前用于小鼠和人类 NK 细胞和 ILC1 表型分析的特征，尤其是在癌症的背景下，其中对这两种细胞类型的不适当区分可能导致关于特定影响的错误结论。他们针对肿瘤。这里，我们建议多维分子控制，与个体发育相关信号、组织特异性和肿瘤微环境衍生信号的协调，确定 NK 细胞和 ILC1 的身份。所有这些分子分层有助于构建 NK 细胞和 ILC1 的细胞命运，并解释了区分这两组细胞的困难。