Advances in the Study of Natural Killer (NK) Cells
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cellular Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2024) | Viewed by 13621
Special Issue Editors
Interests: NK cell biology; MHC I; cancer immunotherapy
Interests: genetically engineered NK cells; CAR NK cells; memory-like NK cells
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural killer cells, identified by the expression of CD56 and lacking CD3 expression, are innate lymphocytes that can kill virally infected cells and tumor cells. Specialized NK cells are found in the placenta and may play critical roles during pregnancy. NK cell activation is controlled by a set of germline-encoded activating and inhibitory receptors, such as killer cell receptors (KIRs), natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs), DNAM, and TIGIT. In addition, CD16 expression on NK cells can also mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Furthermore, NK cells can express a large range of cytokines that regulate the development of other types of cells.
Because NK cells exhibit potent anti-tumor immunity through multiple mechanisms, they have attracted increased interest in being used in cancer immunotherapy. Compared to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, CAR-NK cells have some significant advantages, including (1) better safety, such as a lack or minimal cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity; (2) multiple mechanisms for NK cell activation, so we have more room to enhance NK cell cytotoxicity; and (3) a high potential for ‘off-the-shelf’ manufacturing.
This Special Issue of Cells will highlight NK cell biology and the application of NK cells in cancer immunotherapy through a collection of original research articles, reviews, and communications. We welcome studies related to this topic to be submitted to this Special Issue in order to promote the development of NK cell studies.
Dr. Fuguo Liu
Dr. Mubin Tarannum
Dr. Yingjie Zhao
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- natural killer cells
- chimeric antigen receptor
- immunotherapy
- activating receptors
- inhibitory receptors
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