The Use of Natural Killer Cells as an Immunotherapy Option
A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737). This special issue belongs to the section "Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 204
Special Issue Editor
2. Department of Hematology, Hospital Clinic, IDIBAPS/Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Carrer Rosselló 149-153, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: immunotherapy; NK cells; CART cells; multiple myeloma
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural killer (NK) cells are well known for both their antimicrobial and antitumor properties. More than 15 years ago, NK cells were suggested to be a potential source of immune cells for the treatment of cancer patients. Their specific antitumor properties were originally attributed to the activation of NK cells which occurs when there is a KIR-HLA-I mismatch between the donor and the recipient in the context of allogeneic stem cell transplantation, and also due to the HLA-I downregulation which occurs in some acute myeloid leukemia cells. Afterwards, additional activatory receptors in NK cells were described to have a relevant role in the recognition of tumor cells. Despite all these promising expectations, clinical studies administrating different sources of NK cells have not demonstrated high efficacy. However, most of them proved safe, suggesting that these cells might still have great potential, and that additional studies unraveling other mechanisms and/or peculiarities of NK cells are required. Moreover, modification of current clinical protocols administrating NK cells might be also essential to improve the efficacy of treatment in cancer patients. On the other side, the antimicrobial properties of NK cells have been hardly studied in a clinical context.
In this Special Issue, we invite the submission of original scientific reports, research articles, communications, and review articles, on the broad topic of NK cells in the treatment of cancer patients and also in the treatment of microbial infections. Both clinical and basic studies are of interest.
With this Special Issue, we aim at giving a whole picture of the state-of-the-art for NK cells and their potential to be used as an immunotherapy option both in cancer and in microbial infections. Limitations that are required to be solved in this area will be discussed, and promising novel strategies that lead to improved clinical results using NK cells will be highlighted.
Dr. Beatriz Martín-Antonio
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- NK cells
- immunotherapy
- microbial infections
- cancer
- inflammatory response
- innate immunity
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