Scientists are stepping up efforts to deploy natural killer (NK) cells — the body’s first responders against infected and malignant cells — to combat cancer. Treatment using NK cells from healthy donors has shown promise, but currently successes have been limited and the cells lack staying power in the body. While some researchers are working to improve the potency and endurance of NK cells, a team of Dana-Farber scientists led by Tony Letai, MD, PhD, has taken a different tack.
Instead of concentrating entirely on the immune killer cells, Letai’s team has devised a strategy for “softening up” tumor cells — making them “easier targets for NK cells, thus potentially accelerating NK-mediated killing.” Letai adds: “If you want to make immune cells work better, we’re saying that you need to focus on the cancer cell as well as the immune cell.”
