Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy

Besides their innate ability to rapidly produce effector cytokines and kill virus-infected or transformed cells, natural killer (NK) cells display a strong capability to adapt to environmental modifications and to differentiate into long-lived, hyperfunctional populations, dubbed memory or memory-li...

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Main Authors: Cristina Capuano, Chiara Pighi, Simone Battella, Angela Santoni, Gabriella Palmieri, Ricciarda Galandrini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-01-01
Series:Journal of Immunology Research
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/8795673
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author Cristina Capuano
Chiara Pighi
Simone Battella
Angela Santoni
Gabriella Palmieri
Ricciarda Galandrini
author_facet Cristina Capuano
Chiara Pighi
Simone Battella
Angela Santoni
Gabriella Palmieri
Ricciarda Galandrini
author_sort Cristina Capuano
collection DOAJ
description Besides their innate ability to rapidly produce effector cytokines and kill virus-infected or transformed cells, natural killer (NK) cells display a strong capability to adapt to environmental modifications and to differentiate into long-lived, hyperfunctional populations, dubbed memory or memory-like NK cells. Despite significant progress in the field of NK cell-based immunotherapies, some factors including their short life span and the occurrence of a tumor-dependent functional exhaustion have limited their clinical efficacy so that strategies aimed at overcoming these limitations represent one of the main current challenges in the field. In this scenario, the exploitation of NK cell memory may have a considerable potential. This article summarizes recent evidence in the literature on the peculiar features that render memory NK cells an attractive tool for antitumor immunotherapy, including their long-term survival and in vivo persistence, the resistance to tumor-dependent immunosuppressive microenvironment, the amplified functional responses to IgG-opsonized tumor cells, and in vitro expansion capability. Along with highlighting these issues, we speculate that memory NK cell-based adoptive immunotherapy settings would greatly take advantage from the combination with tumor-targeting therapeutic antibodies (mAbs), as a strategy to fully unleash their clinical efficacy.
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spelling doaj-art-e7b8e8ff4e8b469bb8af6a61078ecbaa2025-08-20T03:21:02ZengWileyJournal of Immunology Research2314-88612314-71562019-01-01201910.1155/2019/87956738795673Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer ImmunotherapyCristina Capuano0Chiara Pighi1Simone Battella2Angela Santoni3Gabriella Palmieri4Ricciarda Galandrini5Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00161, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00161, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00161, ItalyDepartment of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00161, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00161, ItalyDepartment of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00161, ItalyBesides their innate ability to rapidly produce effector cytokines and kill virus-infected or transformed cells, natural killer (NK) cells display a strong capability to adapt to environmental modifications and to differentiate into long-lived, hyperfunctional populations, dubbed memory or memory-like NK cells. Despite significant progress in the field of NK cell-based immunotherapies, some factors including their short life span and the occurrence of a tumor-dependent functional exhaustion have limited their clinical efficacy so that strategies aimed at overcoming these limitations represent one of the main current challenges in the field. In this scenario, the exploitation of NK cell memory may have a considerable potential. This article summarizes recent evidence in the literature on the peculiar features that render memory NK cells an attractive tool for antitumor immunotherapy, including their long-term survival and in vivo persistence, the resistance to tumor-dependent immunosuppressive microenvironment, the amplified functional responses to IgG-opsonized tumor cells, and in vitro expansion capability. Along with highlighting these issues, we speculate that memory NK cell-based adoptive immunotherapy settings would greatly take advantage from the combination with tumor-targeting therapeutic antibodies (mAbs), as a strategy to fully unleash their clinical efficacy.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/8795673
spellingShingle Cristina Capuano
Chiara Pighi
Simone Battella
Angela Santoni
Gabriella Palmieri
Ricciarda Galandrini
Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy
Journal of Immunology Research
title Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy
title_full Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy
title_fullStr Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy
title_full_unstemmed Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy
title_short Memory NK Cell Features Exploitable in Anticancer Immunotherapy
title_sort memory nk cell features exploitable in anticancer immunotherapy
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2019/8795673
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