Search results for "NK cells"
showing 3 items of 23 documents
The Role of GSK-3 in Cancer Immunotherapy: GSK-3 Inhibitors as a New Frontier in Cancer Treatment
2020
The serine/threonine kinase glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) was initially identified because of its key role in the regulation of glycogen synthesis. However, it is now well-established that GSK-3 performs critical functions in many cellular processes, such as apoptosis, tumor growth, cell invasion, and metastasis. Aberrant GSK-3 activity has been associated with many human diseases, including cancer, highlighting its potential therapeutic relevance as a target for anticancer therapy. Recently, newly emerging data have demonstrated the pivotal role of GSK-3 in the anticancer immune response. In the last few years, many GSK-3 inhibitors have been developed, and some are currently being te…
Enhancing the Activation and Releasing the Brakes: A Double Hit Strategy to Improve NK Cell Cytotoxicity Against Multiple Myeloma
2018
Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes with a strong antitumor ability. In tumor patients, such as multiple myeloma (MM) patients, an elevated number of NK cells after stem cell transplantation (SCT) has been reported to be correlated with a higher overall survival rate. With the aim of improving NK cell use for adoptive cell therapy, we also addressed the cytotoxicity of patient-derived, cytokine-stimulated NK cells against MM cells at specific time points: at diagnosis and before and after autologous stem cell transplantation. Remarkably, after cytokine stimulation, the patients' NK cells did not significantly differ from those of healthy donors. In a small cohort of MM patients…
Interferon α interferes with immunological tolerance.
2013
The ability of regulatory T cells (Tregs) to promote immunological tolerance represents an important obstacle in cancer immunotherapy. We have recently discovered that the clinically established immunotherapeutic agent interferon α (IFNα) inactivates the suppressive functions of human Tregs. Here, we outline the mechanisms whereby IFNα mediates this important function and discuss its therapeutic implications for cancer immunotherapy.