Adjusting the scope of natural killer cells in cancer therapy.

Zihen Shen; Xiangpeng Meng; Jai Rautela; Michael Chopin; Nicholas D Huntington

doi:10.1038/s41423-025-01297-4

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Adjusting the scope of natural killer cells in cancer therapy.

Zihen Shen·Xiangpeng Meng·Jai Rautela·Michael Chopin·Nicholas D Huntington

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Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells have evolved to detect abnormalities in tissues arising from infection with pathogens, genomic damage, or transformation and respond rapidly to the production of potent proinflammatory and cytolytic mediators. While this acute proinflammatory response is highly efficient at orchestrating sterilizing immunity to pathogens in a matter of days, cellular transformation often avoids the innate detection mechanisms of NK cells. When cellular transformation results in malignancy, tumor cells and/or the tumor microenvironment can evolve additional mechanisms to circumvent NK cell responses, and cancer is now a dominant disease burden worldwide. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of the combined relationship between malignancies and natural killer (NK) cells, learn from recent clinical efforts in therapeutically targeting natural killer (NK) cells in cancer and outline some emerging therapeutic concepts that aim to improve the innate immune response against cancer.

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Humans Killer Cells, Natural Neoplasms Animals Tumor Microenvironment Immunity, Innate Immunotherapy Cancer Cytokines Drug Development Innate Immune cells Natural Killer cell Journal Article Review Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Zihen Shen, Xiangpeng Meng, Jai Rautela, Michael Chopin, Nicholas D Huntington. 2025-05-23. Adjusting the scope of natural killer cells in cancer therapy.. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-025-01297-4

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