Natural killer cels in immunotherapy for cancer

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide behind cardiovascular diseases. Late stage of cancer at diagnosis and low efficacy of traditional cancer treatments result in low survival rate in cancer patients. Modern techniques to kill tumor cells are therefore needed. Over the last decade novel anticancer treatments have emerged from advances in our understanding of tumor cell biology, and a number of molecular and biologic targets have been identified. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T cell) therapy is a novel adoptive immunotherapy, which is used predominantly in the treatment of hematological malignancies. Moreover, it has been evidenced that cells of the innate immune system are key players at initiating and regulating adaptive immune responses. Studies focusing on innate immune cells for cancer immunotherapy show promising results. In this review, we describe functions of natural killer cells and analyze the rationale for using natural killer cells in cancer therapy.