Harnessing NK cell-based immunotherapy to prevent the high-dose radiotherapy-inducing tumor survival recurrence

Natural killer cells play crucial roles in tumor immunosurveillance and serve as first responders to recognize abnormal cells. Radiotherapy is the mainstay of cancer treatment. However, the effect of high-dose radiotherapy on NK cells remains elusive. Here, we used tumor-bearing mice in the murine colorectal cancer cell line, MC38. The function of NK cells in tumor-draining lymph nodes and tumors was explored after the mice were treated using radiotherapy with 20 Gy and/or blocking antibody alpha TIGIT at the indicated time. High-dose radiotherapy shaped an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment to support tumor growth, showing a decreased anti-tumor immunity phenotype in which effector T cells were reduced significantly. Furthermore, the production of functional cytokines and markers in NK cells, including CD107a, granzyme B, and IFN-gamma, also remarkably decreased after radiotherapy, while the inhibitory receptor TIGIT was significantly upregulated by FACS anal-ysis. The effect of radiotherapy was significantly elevated after treatment with the combination of radiotherapy and TIGIT inhibition. Moreover, this combination significantly decreased tumor recurrence. Our findings re-ported that local single high-dose radiotherapy shaped the immunosuppressive microenvironment and inhibited the function of NK cells. Our study revealed compelling evidence suggesting that the enhancement of NK cell function through TIGIT targeting is an effective strategy to mitigate immune suppression caused by high-dose radiotherapy, thereby promoting the inhibition of tumor recurrence.

Automated summary

Natural killer cells play important roles in tumor immunosurveillance and are the first responders to recognize abnormal cells. The effect of high-dose radiotherapy on NK cells remains unclear. This study showed that high-dose radiotherapy shaped an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and inhibited the function of NK cells. However, the combination of radiotherapy and TIGIT inhibition significantly enhanced the effect of radiotherapy and decreased tumor recurrence.