
Natural Killer Cells - Their Role in Tumour Immunosurveillance
Author(s) -
Preeti Sharma,
Pradeep Kumar,
Rajnikant Sharma
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of clinical and diagnostic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2249-782X
pISSN - 0973-709X
DOI - 10.7860/jcdr/2017/26748.10469
Subject(s) - immunosurveillance , immune system , crosstalk , biology , innate lymphoid cell , immunology , natural killer cell , immunotherapy , innate immune system , microbiology and biotechnology , cytotoxic t cell , in vitro , biochemistry , physics , optics
An important component of the innate immune system, the natural killer cells that originate from the lymphoid cell lineage, hold tremendous potential as an effective therapeutic tool to combat a variety of cancers. Their vast capability to kill altered cells such as opsonized cells (antibody coated), tumour cells, genotoxically changed cells without affecting the healthy cells of the body, make them an effective therapeutic agent for various types of cancers. Besides, through interplay and molecular crosstalk via several cytokines, they also augment the adaptive immune response by, promoting the differentiation, activation and recruitment of component cells of the system. With the current advance knowledge of Natural Killer (NK) cells, their receptor-ligand interactions involved in functional regulation, various mechanistic approaches involving the role of cytokines led to desired modulation of NK cell activity in a tailor-made manner, for triggering clinically relevant responces. Several strategies have been adopted by researchers, to augment the efficacy of NK cells. Still many challenges exist for increasing the therapeutic relevance of these cells.