Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Cytotherapy. 2013 Oct;15(10):1185-94. doi: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2013.03.011. Epub 2013 Jun 13.
Although T-lymphocytes have received most of the attention in immunotherapy trials, new discoveries around natural killer (NK) cells suggest that they also should be suitable effector cells for cellular therapy of cancer. In addition to direct cytotoxicity, NK cells produce an array of immune-active cytokines, among them interferons and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, which places them at the crossroads of innate and adaptive immunity. They also augment monoclonal antibody activity through antibody-mediated cellular cytotoxicity and can be transfected with chimeric antigen receptors. One of the stumbling blocks for NK cell-based therapies has been the inability to predictably obtain and expand larger numbers from donors, but also to achieve sufficiently high transfection efficiency of target genes. The first clinical trials with NK cells suggest some benefit, but more definite evidence is needed to justify this relatively expensive treatment.
虽然 T 淋巴细胞在免疫疗法试验中受到了最多的关注，但围绕自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞的新发现表明，它们也应该是癌症细胞治疗的合适效应细胞。除了直接细胞毒性外，NK 细胞还产生一系列免疫活性细胞因子，其中包括干扰素和粒细胞-巨噬细胞集落刺激因子，这使它们处于先天免疫和适应性免疫的交汇点。它们还通过抗体介导的细胞毒性增强单克隆抗体的活性，并且可以用嵌合抗原受体转染。基于 NK 细胞的治疗的一个障碍是无法从供体中可预测地获得和扩增更多数量，并且也无法实现目标基因的足够高的转染效率。NK 细胞的首次临床试验表明有一定的益处，但需要更明确的证据来证明这种相对昂贵的治疗方法是合理的。
