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Influence of the Tumor Microenvironment on NK Cell Function in Solid Tumors
Full text linkNatural killer (NK) cells are a population of innate lymphoid cells playing a pivotal role in host immune responses against infection and tumor growth. These cells have a powerful cytotoxic activity orchestrated by an intricate network of inhibitory and activating signals. The importance of NK cells in controlling tumor growth and in mediating a robust anti-metastatic effect has been demonstrated in different experimental mouse cancer models. Consistently, high density of tumor-infiltrating NK cells has been linked with a good prognosis in multiple human solid tumors. However, there are also tumors that appear to be refractory to NK cell-mediated killing for the presence of an immunosuppressive microenvironment affecting NK cell function. Immunotherapeutic strategies aimed at restoring and increasing the cytotoxic activity of NK cells in solid tumors, including the adoptive transfer of NK and CAR-NK cells, are currently employed in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we outline recent advances supporting the direct role of NK cells in controlling expansion of solid tumors and their prognostic value in human cancers. We summarize the mechanisms adopted by cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment to affect NK cell function, and finally we evaluate current strategies to augment the antitumor function of NK cells for the treatment of solid tumors
New Insights into the Potential Role of Chimeric Activating Receptors-Engineered Natural Killer Cells to Fight Cancer
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The immune system view of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
Full text linkKnowing the “point of view” of the immune system is essential to understand the characteristic of a pandemic, such as that generated by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2, responsible for the Coronavirus Disease (COVID)-19. In this review, we will discuss the general host/pathogen interactions dictating protective immune response or immunopathology, addressing the role of immunity or immunopathology in influencing the clinical infection outcome, and debate the potential immunoprophylactic and immunotherapy strategies required to fight the virus infectio
Boosting natural killer cell-based immunotherapy with anticancer drugs. a perspective
No full textNatural killer (NK) cells efficiently recognize and kill tumor cells through several mechanisms including the expression of ligands for NK cell-activating receptors on target cells. Different clinical trials indicate that NK cell-based immunotherapy represents a promising antitumor treatment. However, tumors develop immune-evasion strategies, including downregulation of ligands for NK cell-activating receptors, that can negatively affect antitumor activity of NK cells, which either reside endogenously, or are adoptively transferred. Thus, restoration of the expression of NK cell-activating ligands on tumor cells represents a strategic therapeutic goal. As discussed here, various anticancer drugs can fulfill this task via different mechanisms. We envision that the combination of selected chemotherapeutic agents with NK cell adoptive transfer may represent a novel strategy for cancer immunotherapy. The well-established antitumor activity of NK cells is strictly dependent on the expression of ligands for NK cell-activating receptors on tumor cell surfaces. The molecular mechanisms underlying the upregulation of ligands for NK cell-activating receptors on tumor cells mainly depend on signaling pathways activated upon DNA damage induced by many different cytotoxic drugs. NK cell adoptive transfer in autologous or allogeneic settings represents a promising anticancer immunotherapeutic approach that has been tested in different clinical trials. The therapeutic efficacy of NK cell adoptive transfer may be dampened by downregulation of ligands for NK cell-activating receptors. A major immune-evasion mechanism adopted by most aggressive cancer cells. Many cytotoxic drugs utilized to treat cancer patients have been reported to upregulate the expression of ligands for NK cell-activating receptors in tumor cells, thus enhancing NK cell-mediated killing. Some of these drugs are excellent candidates for the design of new cancer immunotherapy protocols based on the combination of chemotherapy with allogeneic or autologous NK cell adoptive transfer
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: Do Polyphenols Advantage or Counteract Their Activity?
Full text linkRole of endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases in health and disease: from infection to cancer
No full textI Can See Clearly Now! Exploring the Interplay Between Sport Modality and Visual Search Skill, Visual Working Memory and Reasoning.
No full textThe ability to select and recall information is an essential cognitive function relevant to roughly every situation in our daily lives (Brand & Schiebener, 2013).
The present investigation sought to further understanding of the influence of sport modality (i.e., open- and closed-skill sports) on different aspects of cognitive function such as visual search ability, visual working memory, and reasoning.
Given the several cognitive demands imposed by open- and closed-skill sports, it appears reasonable to hypothesize that cognitive function may vary as a function of sport modality (Gu et al., 2019).
Thirty-seven open-skill athletes (Mage = 27.30, SD =7.49 years), 32 closed-skill athletes (Mage = 29.97, SD = 9.73 years) and 26 non- athletes (Mage = 29.04, SD = 8.25 years) were recruited.
Open-skill athletes came from different sport disciplines (e.g., basketball and tennis) and closed-skill athletes came from sports such as running, and swimming.
Participants’ visual search abilities, visual working memory (Corsi Span -Backwards), and reasoning abilities (Cognitive Reflection Task) were investigated and the PsyToolkit platform was used to create and administer the tasks (Stoet, 2010; Stoet, 2017).
Only visual search abilities were superior in open-skill athletes when compared to both closed-skill athletes and non-athletes.
Furthermore, the findings revealed nonsignificant differences between closed-skills athletes and non-athletes for all tasks.
Accordingly, sport practice appears to be beneficial for some aspects of cognitive function. However, the present results must be interpreted with due caution, given that pre-existent differences in cognitive function could lead participants to become more successful in one sport than another
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