Abstract
In recent years, progress has been made in the characterization of natural killer (NK) cells in lung malignancies, and we have now gained a better understanding of the frequency, localization, phenotype, and functional status of NK cells infiltrating these tumors. NK cell subset recruited in lung cancer is mainly capable of producing relevant cytokines rather than exerting direct cancer cell killing. Thus, the relevance of NK cells in tumor microenvironment might also go beyond the killing of tumor cells, being NK cells endowed with regulatory functions toward an ample array of immune effectors. Nevertheless, boosting their cytotoxic functions and redirecting the migration of cytotoxic NK cell subset to the tumor site might open new therapeutic avenues for lung cancer. Also, we believe that a deeper investigation into the impact of both conventional (e.g., chemotherapy) or new therapies (e.g., anti-immune checkpoints mAbs) on NK cell homeostasis in lung cancer patients is now required.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to natural killer (NK) and Innate Lymphoid Cell Biology, a section of the journal
Despite knowledge on NK cell biology significantly increased in these last years, we surprisingly still know relatively little about their functions in tumor microenvironment (TM)
This is astonishing considering that NK cell discovery was related to their strong ability to recognize and kill cancer cells without prior sensitization
Summary
Natural Killers Are Made Not Born: How to Exploit NK Cells in Lung Malignancies. Front. The relevance of NK cells in tumor microenvironment might go beyond the killing of tumor cells, being NK cells endowed with regulatory functions toward an ample array of immune effectors. Boosting their cytotoxic functions and redirecting the migration of cytotoxic NK cell subset to the tumor site might open new therapeutic avenues for lung cancer. As a matter of fact, several studies have aimed to investigate the biology of NK cells present within the neoplastic tissue and the clinical relevance of this infiltrate: in this context, lung cancer, the main cause of cancer-related mortality, represents a major topic for studying the anti-tumoral role of NK cells
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