Natural killer (NK) cells are characterized by the ability to kill cells that lack HLA class I molecules while sparing autologous normal (HLA class I(+)) cells. However, patients with transporter-associated antigen processing (TAP) deficiency, though displaying strong reductions of HLA class I surface expression, in most instances do not experience NK-mediated autoimmune phenomena. A possible mechanism by which TAP(-/-) NK cells avoid autoreactivity against autologous HLA class I-deficient cells could be based on either quantitative or qualitative defects of surface receptors involved in NK cell triggering. In this study we show that NK cells derived from 2 patients with TAP2(-/-) express normal levels of all known triggering receptors. As revealed by the analysis of polyclonal and clonal NK cells, these receptors display normal functional capabilities and allow the killing of a panel of NK-susceptible targets, including autologous B-LCLs. On the other hand, TAP2(-/-) NK cells were unable to kill either allogeneic (HLA class I(+)) or autologous (HLA class I(-) ) phytohemagglutinin (PHA) blasts even in the presence of anti-HLA class I monoclonal antibody. These data suggest that TAP2(-/-) NK cells express still unknown inhibitory receptor(s) capable of down-regulating the NK cell cytotoxicity on binding to surface ligand(s) expressed by T cell blasts. Functional analyses, both at the polyclonal and at the clonal level, are consistent with the concept that the putative inhibitory receptor is expressed by virtually all TAP2(-/-) NK cells, whereas it is present only in rare NK cells from healthy persons. Another possibility would be that TAP2(-/-) NK cells are missing a still unidentified triggering receptor involved in NK cell-mediated killing of PHA blasts.