TY - JOUR
T1 - NK and NKT cells have distinct properties and functions in cancer
AU - Liu, Xia
AU - Li, Lingyun
AU - Si, Fusheng
AU - Huang, Lan
AU - Zhao, Yangjing
AU - Zhang, Chenchen
AU - Hoft, Daniel F.
AU - Peng, Guangyong
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by grants from the American Cancer Society (RSG-10-160-01-LIB, to GP), Melanoma Research Alliance (to GP), and the NIH (CA184379, CA242188, CA237149, and AG067441 to GP).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2021/7/8
Y1 - 2021/7/8
N2 - Natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells are two important cell subsets of the innate immune system. NK and NKT cells share many phenotypes and functions for anti-tumor immunity; however, the dynamic changes in phenotypes and functional interactions within the tumor microenvironment during tumor development and progression are unknown. Here we report that NK and NKT cells have distinct properties, metabolic profiles, and functions during tumor development. Using the mouse E0771 breast cancer and B16 melanoma models, we found that both NK and NKT cells are dynamically involved in the immune responses to cancer but have distinct distributions and phenotypic profiles in tumor sites and other peripheral organs during the course of tumor development and progression. In the early stages of tumor development, both NK and NKT cells exhibit effector properties. In the later cancer stages, NK and NKT cells have impaired cytotoxic capacities and dysfunctional states. NK cells become senescent cells, while NKT cells, other than invariant NKT (iNKT) cells, are exhausted in the advanced cancers. In contrast, iNKT cells develop increases in activation and effector function within the breast tumor microenvironment. In addition, senescent NK cells have heightened glucose and lipid metabolism, but exhausted NKT cells display unbalanced metabolism in tumor microenvironments of both breast cancer and melanoma tumor models. These studies provide a better understanding of the dynamic and distinct functional roles of NK and NKT cells in anti-tumor immunity, which may facilitate the development of novel immunotherapies targeting NK and NKT cells for cancer treatment.
AB - Natural killer (NK) and natural killer T (NKT) cells are two important cell subsets of the innate immune system. NK and NKT cells share many phenotypes and functions for anti-tumor immunity; however, the dynamic changes in phenotypes and functional interactions within the tumor microenvironment during tumor development and progression are unknown. Here we report that NK and NKT cells have distinct properties, metabolic profiles, and functions during tumor development. Using the mouse E0771 breast cancer and B16 melanoma models, we found that both NK and NKT cells are dynamically involved in the immune responses to cancer but have distinct distributions and phenotypic profiles in tumor sites and other peripheral organs during the course of tumor development and progression. In the early stages of tumor development, both NK and NKT cells exhibit effector properties. In the later cancer stages, NK and NKT cells have impaired cytotoxic capacities and dysfunctional states. NK cells become senescent cells, while NKT cells, other than invariant NKT (iNKT) cells, are exhausted in the advanced cancers. In contrast, iNKT cells develop increases in activation and effector function within the breast tumor microenvironment. In addition, senescent NK cells have heightened glucose and lipid metabolism, but exhausted NKT cells display unbalanced metabolism in tumor microenvironments of both breast cancer and melanoma tumor models. These studies provide a better understanding of the dynamic and distinct functional roles of NK and NKT cells in anti-tumor immunity, which may facilitate the development of novel immunotherapies targeting NK and NKT cells for cancer treatment.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107685124&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41388-021-01880-9
DO - 10.1038/s41388-021-01880-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 34120141
AN - SCOPUS:85107685124
SN - 0950-9232
VL - 40
SP - 4521
EP - 4537
JO - Oncogene
JF - Oncogene
IS - 27
ER -