Natural Cytotoxicity Triggering Receptor 3 (NCR3)

Natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs), such as NCR3, are activating natural killer (NK) cell receptors that belong to the immunoglobulin (Ig) superfamily. NCR3 is expressed in all resting and activated NK cells and forms a complex with CD3-zeta (CD3Z, or CD247)

The deduced 190-amino acid protein has a signal peptide followed by a 120-amino acid extracellular region that forms a V-type Ig-like domain with 2 potential N-linked glycosylation sites; a hydrophobic transmembrane region with a positively charged arg residue; and a 33-amino acid cytoplasmic tail lacking an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activating motif (ITAM). Northern blot analysis detected a 1.0-kb transcript only in NK cells.