Cargando…
The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach
Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a subset of CD1d-restricted T cells at the interface between the innate and adaptive immune system. NKT cells can be subdivided into functional subsets that respond rapidly to a wide variety of glycolipids and stress-related proteins using T- or natural killer (NK) c...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2018
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5835336/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29535734 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00367 |
_version_ | 1783303798834331648 |
---|---|
author | Krijgsman, Daniëlle Hokland, Marianne Kuppen, Peter J. K. |
author_facet | Krijgsman, Daniëlle Hokland, Marianne Kuppen, Peter J. K. |
author_sort | Krijgsman, Daniëlle |
collection | PubMed |
description | Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a subset of CD1d-restricted T cells at the interface between the innate and adaptive immune system. NKT cells can be subdivided into functional subsets that respond rapidly to a wide variety of glycolipids and stress-related proteins using T- or natural killer (NK) cell-like effector mechanisms. Because of their major modulating effects on immune responses via secretion of cytokines, NKT cells are also considered important players in tumor immunosurveillance. During early tumor development, T helper (T(H))1-like NKT cell subsets have the potential to rapidly stimulate tumor-specific T cells and effector NK cells that can eliminate tumor cells. In case of tumor progression, NKT cells may become overstimulated and anergic leading to deletion of a part of the NKT cell population in patients via activation-induced cell death. In addition, the remaining NKT cells become hyporesponsive, or switch to immunosuppressive T(H)2-/T regulatory-like NKT cell subsets, thereby facilitating tumor progression and immune escape. In this review, we discuss this important role of NKT cells in tumor development and we conclude that there should be three important focuses of future research in cancer patients in relation with NKT cells: (1) expansion of the NKT cell population, (2) prevention and breaking of NKT cell anergy, and (3) skewing of NKT cells toward T(H)1-like subsets with antitumor activity. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5835336 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-58353362018-03-13 The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach Krijgsman, Daniëlle Hokland, Marianne Kuppen, Peter J. K. Front Immunol Immunology Natural killer T (NKT) cells are a subset of CD1d-restricted T cells at the interface between the innate and adaptive immune system. NKT cells can be subdivided into functional subsets that respond rapidly to a wide variety of glycolipids and stress-related proteins using T- or natural killer (NK) cell-like effector mechanisms. Because of their major modulating effects on immune responses via secretion of cytokines, NKT cells are also considered important players in tumor immunosurveillance. During early tumor development, T helper (T(H))1-like NKT cell subsets have the potential to rapidly stimulate tumor-specific T cells and effector NK cells that can eliminate tumor cells. In case of tumor progression, NKT cells may become overstimulated and anergic leading to deletion of a part of the NKT cell population in patients via activation-induced cell death. In addition, the remaining NKT cells become hyporesponsive, or switch to immunosuppressive T(H)2-/T regulatory-like NKT cell subsets, thereby facilitating tumor progression and immune escape. In this review, we discuss this important role of NKT cells in tumor development and we conclude that there should be three important focuses of future research in cancer patients in relation with NKT cells: (1) expansion of the NKT cell population, (2) prevention and breaking of NKT cell anergy, and (3) skewing of NKT cells toward T(H)1-like subsets with antitumor activity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-02-27 /pmc/articles/PMC5835336/ /pubmed/29535734 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00367 Text en Copyright © 2018 Krijgsman, Hokland and Kuppen. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Immunology Krijgsman, Daniëlle Hokland, Marianne Kuppen, Peter J. K. The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach |
title | The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach |
title_full | The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach |
title_fullStr | The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach |
title_full_unstemmed | The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach |
title_short | The Role of Natural Killer T Cells in Cancer—A Phenotypical and Functional Approach |
title_sort | role of natural killer t cells in cancer—a phenotypical and functional approach |
topic | Immunology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5835336/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29535734 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00367 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT krijgsmandanielle theroleofnaturalkillertcellsincanceraphenotypicalandfunctionalapproach AT hoklandmarianne theroleofnaturalkillertcellsincanceraphenotypicalandfunctionalapproach AT kuppenpeterjk theroleofnaturalkillertcellsincanceraphenotypicalandfunctionalapproach AT krijgsmandanielle roleofnaturalkillertcellsincanceraphenotypicalandfunctionalapproach AT hoklandmarianne roleofnaturalkillertcellsincanceraphenotypicalandfunctionalapproach AT kuppenpeterjk roleofnaturalkillertcellsincanceraphenotypicalandfunctionalapproach |