Tumor Microenviroment Unit, IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, 20089 Milan, Italy.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, 20072 Milan, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 May 30;24(11):9521. doi: 10.3390/ijms24119521.
Natural killer cells (NK) are innate lymphocytes endowed with the ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Consequently, adoptive transfer of autologous or allogeneic NK cells represents a novel opportunity in cancer treatment that is currently under clinical investigation. However, cancer renders NK cells dysfunctional, thus restraining the efficacy of cell therapies. Importantly, extensive effort has been employed to investigate the mechanisms that restrain NK cell anti-tumor function, and the results have offered forthcoming solutions to improve the efficiency of NK cell-based therapies. The present review will introduce the origin and features of NK cells, summarize the mechanisms of action and causes of dysfunction of NK cells in cancer, and frame NK cells in the tumoral microenvironment and in the context of immunotherapies. Finally, we will discuss therapeutic potential and current limitations of NK cell adoptive transfer in tumors.
自然杀伤细胞（NK）是一种具有识别和杀死癌细胞能力的先天淋巴细胞。因此，自体或异体 NK 细胞的过继转移为癌症治疗提供了一个新的机会，目前正在进行临床研究。然而，癌症使 NK 细胞功能失调，从而限制了细胞治疗的效果。重要的是，人们已经进行了广泛的努力来研究限制 NK 细胞抗肿瘤功能的机制，这些研究结果为提高 NK 细胞为基础的治疗效率提供了可行的方案。本综述将介绍 NK 细胞的起源和特征，总结 NK 细胞在癌症中的作用机制和功能失调的原因，并阐述 NK 细胞在肿瘤微环境中和免疫治疗中的作用。最后，我们将讨论 NK 细胞过继转移在肿瘤治疗中的潜在治疗效果和当前限制。
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