Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China.
Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang, China.
Int Immunopharmacol. 2022 Nov;112:109193. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2022.109193. Epub 2022 Sep 7.
Natural killer (NK) cells are being used effectively as a potential candidate in tumor immunotherapy. However, the migration and transport of NK cells to solid tumors is inadequate. NK cell dysfunction, tumor invasiveness, and metastasis are associated with altered metabolism of NK cells in the liver cancer microenvironment. However, in liver cancers, metabolic impairment of NK cells is still not understood fully. Evidence from various sources has shown that the interaction of NK cell's immune checkpoints with its metabolic checkpoints is responsible for the regulation of the development and function of these cells. How immune checkpoints contribute to metabolic programming is still not fully understood, and how this can be beneficial needs a better understanding, but they are emerging to be incredibly compelling to rebuilding the function of NK cells in the tumor. It is expected to represent a potential aim that focuses on improving the efficacy of therapies based on NK cells for treating liver cancer. Here, the recent advancements made to understand the NK cell's metabolic reprogramming in liver cancer have been summarized, along with the possible interplay between the immune and the metabolic checkpoints in NK cell function. Finally, an overview of some potential metabolic-related targets that can be used for liver cancer therapy treatment has been presented.
自然杀伤 (NK) 细胞被有效地用作肿瘤免疫治疗的潜在候选物。然而，NK 细胞向实体瘤的迁移和运输不足。NK 细胞功能障碍、肿瘤侵袭和转移与肝癌微环境中 NK 细胞代谢的改变有关。然而，在肝癌中，NK 细胞的代谢损伤仍未被完全理解。来自不同来源的证据表明，NK 细胞免疫检查点与其代谢检查点的相互作用负责调节这些细胞的发育和功能。免疫检查点如何促进代谢编程尚不完全清楚，如何从中受益需要更好的理解，但它们正在成为重建 NK 细胞在肿瘤中的功能的令人难以置信的有吸引力的方法。预计这将代表一个潜在的目标，重点是提高基于 NK 细胞治疗肝癌的疗效。在这里，总结了最近在理解肝癌中 NK 细胞的代谢重编程方面取得的进展，以及 NK 细胞功能中免疫和代谢检查点之间可能存在的相互作用。最后，还介绍了一些可用于肝癌治疗的潜在代谢相关靶点。
