Natural Killer Cells Cancer Immunotherapy

The past several years have seen tremendous advances in the engineering of immune effector cells as therapy for cancer.

Natural killer cells cancer immunotherapy.

Although nk cells can discriminate between self and non self recognize abnormal cells and eliminate transformed cells and malignancies in real time tumors develop several strategies to escape from nk cell attack. Opposite signals delivered by inhibitory and activating receptors tightly regulate nk cells. Authors camille guillerey 1 2 nicholas d huntington 3 4 mark j smyth 1 2 affiliations 1 immunology of cancer and infection laboratory qimr. This has impelled the development of nkt cell targeted immunotherapies for treating cancer.

And researchers say this car nk process may be even more promising than car t. Targeting natural killer cells in cancer immunotherapy nat immunol. While chimeric antigen receptors cars have been used extensively to redirect the specificity of autologous t cells against hematological malignancies with striking clinical results studies of car modified natural killer nk cells have been largely preclinical. Nk cells can be targeted to kill with exquisite antigen specificity by antibody.

Natural killer nk cells are key innate immune cells that provide the first line of defense against viral infection and cancer. But now there s talk of harnessing so called natural killer cells to go after cancer. Following stimulation nkt cells lead to downstream activation of both innate and adaptive immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. They recognize infected cells and tumors using a sophisticated array of activating costimulatory and inhibitory receptors that are expressed on nk cell subsets to create extensive functional diversity.

Natural killer nk cells have evolved to complement t and b cells in host defense against pathogens and cancer. In this review we provide a brief overview of the stimulatory and. Natural killer nk cells are crucial components of the innate immune system and play critical roles in host immunity against viral infections and cancer. Nk cells activity is controlled by the interaction of a wide range of receptors expressed on their surfaces with cell surface ligands.

Natural killer nk cells play an essential role in the fight against tumor development.