Combination therapy with expanded natural killer cells and atezolizumab exerts potent antitumor immunity in small cell lung cancer.

ABSTRACT: Despite an initial response to platinum-based chemotherapy, most patients with extensive stage of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have a poor prognosis due to recurrence. Additionally, the benefit of immune checkpoint inhibitors is more modest than non-small cell lung cancer. Natural killer (NK) cells can directly eliminate cancer cells without prior sensitization; this is largely governed by inflammatory cytokines, which serve as killing signals to cancer cells. Here, we investigated whether the combination of NK cells plus atezolizumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody that specifically targets the protein programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), has a synergistic effect against SCLC. NK cells were expanded and activated using irradiated K562 feeder cells in the presence of interleukin (IL)

SUBMITTER: Vo MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11890499 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature