Natural Killer (NK) Cells: From Virology to Cancer Immunotherapy
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (7 July 2023) | Viewed by 3416
Special Issue Editors
Interests: natural killer cells; natural cytotoxicity receptors; monoclonal antibody; immune checkpoints; chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) NK cells; immunotherapy
Interests: colorectal cancer; NK cell; combination therapy; immunotherapy; patient-derived xenograft; explant culture
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
One of the foremost players of the innate immune system are the natural killer (NK) cells. NK cells have recently been grouped within the innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). NK cells are well known for their cytotoxic function against virus-infected cells and malignant cells. Studies have also reported a role of NK cells in bacterial and parasitic infections. In normal healthy individuals, NK cells’ cytotoxic function remains suppressed via inhibitory signal from NK cells’ inhibitory receptors and their interactions with MHC class I ligands. During viral infection and malignant transformation, cells express different activation ligands on their surface to activate NK cells via interaction with their activatory receptors. Activated NK cells then respond by killing the infected or tumor cells without prior sensitization, and by producing cytokines and chemokines. It has been shown that NK cells crosstalk with other immune cells like dendritic cells and can shape the adaptive immune response through this crosstalk, and by their cytokine/chemokine production. However, during some specific and chronic viral infections, viruses can escape the NK-cell-mediated viral clearance. This is also true for cancer. In several tumor models, it has been reported that infiltrating NK cells are inactivated or suppressed by different molecular mechanisms.
The goal of this Special Issue is to present original research and review papers discussing the recent advancements in the role of NK cells in viral infections and the mechanisms by which viruses escape NK-cell-mediated killing. There will be scope to discuss the molecular mechanisms behind NK cell suppression in solid tumors, the role of specific NK cell subsets in chronic viral infection or cancer, the evaluation of different phenotypes between protective NK cells (antiviral, antitumoral) and inactivated NK cells, and identifying the signals or interactions that can change the NK cell response from suppression to activation. Finally, we are interested in learning how these learnings can be helpful for NK-cell-based cellular immunotherapy.
Dr. Kiran Kundu
Dr. Susmita Ghosh
Dr. Pulak Ranjan Nath
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- NK cells
- viral infection
- immunotherapy
- cancer immunology
- cellular immunotherapy
- innate lymphoid cells
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