Recent Advances in the Use of NK Cells Against Cancer

Currently, the field of NK cell immunotherapy is a rapidly evolving and exciting area. An increased understanding of how NK cells are able to kill tumor cells, as well as how tumors try to subvert this attack, has led to many new ideas about how to make NK cell immunotherapy more effective. Advances in both technology and methodology have made it more of a reality to generate large numbers of NK cells to utilize in either autologous or allogeneic NK cell transfers. In addition, an understanding of how monoclonal antibodies (mAb) work via NK cell antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) has led to many strategies to enhance the activity of these Ab. Lastly, the usage of new cytokines such as IL-15 and IL-21 in in vitro NK cell generation and patients may be a major surge forward in terms of activating NK cells to kill tumor cells. Many of the advances in NK cell immunotherapy are still in preclinical or phase I trials, but in the next 10 years, many will become a front-line treatment. It is likely that the best results will occur with the combination of multiple methods, although work still needs to be done to determine the best therapy for each individual tumor type.