Le natural killer (NK) cells are immune system lymphocytes that control different types of cancers and microbial infections, limiting its spread and consequent tissue damage.
Recent research shows that NK cells are also regulatory cells, engaged in reciprocal interactions with dendritic cells, macrophages, T cells and endothelial cells; NK cells can, therefore, limit or exacerbate immune responses.
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Natural killer cell history
More than a century ago, William Coley, a surgical oncologist from New York, had the seemingly insane idea that the organism had a immune system, which could be used to fight cancer.
After witnessing the regression of the cancer in one of his patients, following the development of a skin infection, Coley developed a new cancer treatment by injecting more than 1000 patients with a mixture of heat-killed bacteria.
The idea was to stimulate what he called the "resistance capacity " of the organism; the results were positive and this approach began to take hold.
It was used by distinguished doctors such as the Mayo brothers and orthopedic surgeon Henry W. Meyerding.
The advent of radiation and chemotherapy and the fact that Coley could not explain the full functioning of this treatment, however, has overshadowed this type of treatment.
Natural killer cells today
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved a type of immunotherapy: the combination of Opvido (nivolumab) and Yervoy (ipilimumab) for people with a previously treated type of colorectal cancer.
Researchers today argue that natural killer cells could give very promising results in cancer treatment.
A recent study from the San Diego School of Medicine and the University of Minnesota Minneapolis reports that modified natural killer cells, derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells, showed increased activity against ovarian cancer.
Dr Dan Kaufman, lead scientist on the NK study, said NK cells may offer significant benefits for people with cancer; a batch of these cells, created from mature human cells, can potentially be used to treat thousands of people.
This will allow clinics to offer standardized treatments and use them in combination with other cancer drugs.
Natural killer cells and clinical trials
Kaufman currently stands working on human clinical trials; this approach has the potential to change the logistics of cell-based cancer immunotherapy as we know it.
The goal is to overcome many of the limitations associated with patient-specific cell therapies and to allow more patients access to new and revolutionary cell-based anticancer immunotherapies.
NK cells are created in the laboratory from mature human cells, such as the skin or blood cells of an adult.
This scientific breakthrough allows a fully mature human cell to be reprogrammed into a pluripotent state and allows these cells to become an unlimited and very useful source for therapeutic purposes.
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