Abstract
Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent gynaecological malignancies worldwide and is related to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, viral persistence, progression, and invasion. Therefore, the immune response is linked to HPV status. Natural killer (NK) cells play a central role against virus-infected cells and tumours through a delicate balance between activating and inhibitory receptors and secretion of cytokines and chemokines. These cells also play a crucial role in tumour immunosurveillance. For these reasons, there is growing interest in harnessing NK cells as an immunotherapy for cervical cancer. These studies are diverse and include many strategies such as transferring activated autologous or allogeneic NK cells, improving the activation and cytolytic activity of NK cells using cytokines or analogues and modifying chimeric antigen receptors to increase specificity and targeting NK cells. However, research regarding the application of NK cells in immunotherapy is limited. This article focuses on recent discoveries about using NK cells to prevent and treat cervical cancer and the possibility of cellular immunotherapy becoming one of the best strategies to exploit the immune system to fight tumours.
Highlights
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer with the highest incidence and mortality in women worldwide (Globocan 2020)
CD80, CD86, HLA-DR and HLA-DQ [48,49]. Another way viral oncoproteins can affect the production of cytokines necessary for the activation of Natural killer (NK) cells is by avoiding the activation of the inflammasome, which is necessary for the production of IL-18 and IL-1β
NK cells can produce cytokines that enhance the activation of other immune system cells, either innate or adaptive cells
Summary
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer with the highest incidence and mortality in women worldwide (Globocan 2020). Other factors have been shown to contribute to cervical cancer development, such as the early onset of sexual activity, a high number of sexual partners, infrequent use of condoms, multiple pregnancies, and infections by pathogens such as chlamydia and the presence of viral HIV infections. Cervical cancer is both preventable and curable if detected early and treated adequately. The high relapse and mortality rate is associated with the development of immune system evasion, drug resistance, invasion, and metastasis From these data arises the need for targeted immunotherapies, which have increased in recent years. The genes that encode accessory proteins modify the infected cell to facilitate viral replication in ways that correlate with each other’s different disease associations [1,19,20]
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