期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2009
卷号：106
期号：31
页码：12879-12884
DOI：10.1073/pnas.0901653106
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes of the innate immune system able to recognize and kill tumors lacking self-MHC class I molecules. This "missing-self" recognition is mediated by the lack of engagement of MHC class I-specific inhibitory NK cell receptors that include the killer cell Ig-like receptors (KIR) in humans and Ly49 molecules in mice. A promising immunotherapeutic strategy against MHC class I+ cancer cells is to block NK cell inhibitory receptors using monoclonal antibodies (mAb). However, interactions between MHC class I molecules and their inhibitory receptors are also required for the acquisition of NK cell functional competence, a process referred as to "education." In addition, inhibitory receptors are involved in self-tolerance on educated NK cells. Here, we developed a preclinical mouse model in which all NK cells are educated by a single transgenic inhibitory receptor, human KIR2DL3, through the engagement with its HLA-Cw3 ligand. This approach revealed that NK cells could be reprogrammed to control the development of mouse syngenic tumors in vivo. Moreover, in vivo anti-KIR mAb treatment induced the killing of HLA+ target cells without breaking self-tolerance. Finally, the long-term infusion of anti-KIR mAb neither abolished NK cell education nor tumor cell recognition. Therefore, these results strongly support the use of inhibitory receptor blockade in cancer patients.
关键词：anti-tumor therapy ; innate immunity ; pre-clinical model ; tolerance
