Impact of Helper-like Innate Lymphoid Cells in NK Cell-Mediated Cancer Cell Killing
Advisor Information
Paul W Denton
Location
MBSC Omaha Room 304 - U
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
4-3-2022 9:00 AM
End Date
4-3-2022 10:15 AM
Abstract
Immunotherapy, the process of utilizing a person’s own immune system, not just chemotherapy, radiation, or other harmful drugs, to fight off cancerous tumors and malignancies is the next step in cancer medicine. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) act as the body’s innate immunity counterpart to antigen-specific T cells: while they share functions and phenotypes with their T cell counterparts, they lack antigen receptors and instead respond largely to tissue signaling, allowing a faster broad-spectrum response. Natural killer (NK) cells, recently classified as an ILC subtype, are recognized immunotherapeutic effectors known for their heightened killing capacity through both direct killing and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). In ADCC, antigens are used to induce recognition of target cells by NK effector cells. Helper ILCs (non-NK ILC1s, ILC2s, and ILC3s) have varied roles in cancer. They are often dysregulated in cancer microenvironments, with impaired cytokine production that allows cancerous cells to avoid immune detection. However, ILCs with healthy cytokine expression may have the capacity to help, rather than block, cancer killing. We propose that the addition of healthy ILCs to our NK cell-mediated ADCC assay will show increased NK cell killing capacity when placed in a pathogenic condition such as B-cell lymphoma.
Scheduling Link
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Impact of Helper-like Innate Lymphoid Cells in NK Cell-Mediated Cancer Cell Killing
MBSC Omaha Room 304 - U
Immunotherapy, the process of utilizing a person’s own immune system, not just chemotherapy, radiation, or other harmful drugs, to fight off cancerous tumors and malignancies is the next step in cancer medicine. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) act as the body’s innate immunity counterpart to antigen-specific T cells: while they share functions and phenotypes with their T cell counterparts, they lack antigen receptors and instead respond largely to tissue signaling, allowing a faster broad-spectrum response. Natural killer (NK) cells, recently classified as an ILC subtype, are recognized immunotherapeutic effectors known for their heightened killing capacity through both direct killing and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). In ADCC, antigens are used to induce recognition of target cells by NK effector cells. Helper ILCs (non-NK ILC1s, ILC2s, and ILC3s) have varied roles in cancer. They are often dysregulated in cancer microenvironments, with impaired cytokine production that allows cancerous cells to avoid immune detection. However, ILCs with healthy cytokine expression may have the capacity to help, rather than block, cancer killing. We propose that the addition of healthy ILCs to our NK cell-mediated ADCC assay will show increased NK cell killing capacity when placed in a pathogenic condition such as B-cell lymphoma.