4.6 Article

CD11b-CD27- NK Cells Are Associated with the Progression of Lung Carcinoma

Journal

PLOS ONE
Volume 8, Issue 4, Pages -

Publisher

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061024

Keywords

-

Funding

  1. Natural Science Foundation of China [31021061, 30730084]
  2. Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2009CB522403, 2012CB519004]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

NK cells are a major component of the antitumour immune response that limits tumour progression. However, it has been reported that tumour-infiltrating NK (TINK) cells from patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) exhibit profound defects in degranulation and IFN-gamma production. In support of this notion, we report a novel mechanism associated with tumour escape from NK cell-mediated antitumour immunity in lung carcinoma. In this study, we investigated the phenotypic profile of TINK cells based on the expression of the NK-cell maturation markers CD11b and CD27. Interestingly, we found a substantial CD11b(-)CD27(-) (DN) NK-cell population harboured within the tumour tissues. The presence of this CD11b(-)CD27(-) NK subset indicated that the TINK cells were of an immature and inactive phenotype. Remarkably, we determined that the presence of DN NK cells had an impact on the clinical outcomes of patients with NSCLC, as the frequency of tumour-infiltrating DN NK cells was positively correlated with the tumour stage and tumour size. We further used a murine Lewis lung cancer (LLC) model to confirm the correlation between the frequency of tumour-infiltrating DN NK cells and the progression of lung carcinoma. Together, our findings demonstrate that the tumour microenvironment may render TINK cells less tumouricidal and thereby contribute to cancer progression.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available