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Aptamer‐Engineered Natural Killer Cells for Cell‐Specific Adaptive Immunotherapy
Author(s) -
Yang Shuanghui,
Wen Jianguo,
Li Huan,
Xu Ling,
Liu Yanting,
Zhao Nianxi,
Zeng Zihua,
Qi Jianjun,
Jiang Wenqi,
Han Wei,
Zu Youli
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201900903
Subject(s) - aptamer , immunotherapy , biology , cell , interleukin 21 , cancer immunotherapy , nkg2d , immune system , natural killer cell , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer research , t cell , cytotoxicity , biochemistry , in vitro
Natural killer (NK) cells are a key component of the innate immune system as they can attack cancer cells without prior sensitization. However, due to lack of cell‐specific receptors, NK cells are not innately able to perform targeted cancer immunotherapy. Aptamers are short single‐stranded oligonucleotides that specifically recognize their targets with high affinity in a similar manner to antibodies. To render NK cells with target‐specificity, synthetic CD30‐specific aptamers are anchored on cell surfaces to produce aptamer‐engineered NK cells (ApEn‐NK) without genetic alteration or cell damage. Under surface‐anchored aptamer guidance, ApEn‐NK specifically bind to CD30‐expressing lymphoma cells but do not react to off‐target cells. The resulting specific cell binding of ApEn‐NK triggers higher apoptosis/death rates of lymphoma cells compared to parental NK cells. Additionally, experiments with primary human NK cells demonstrate the potential of ApEn‐NK to specifically target and kill lymphoma cells, thus presenting a potential new approach for targeted immunotherapy by NK cells.