Effective allogeneic natural killer cell therapy for pancreatic adenocarcinoma avails conserved activating receptors and evades HLA I-driven inhibition.

ABSTRACT:

Background

At diagnosis, ~80% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) have metastasized. Relapse is thus common even among patients who undergo surgical resection, the only curative option. PDAC progresses rapidly, and existing immunotherapies have been ineffective. We hypothesized that natural killer (NK) cell immunotherapies could be effective against PDAC because they recognize conserved and heterogeneous features associated with cellular stress and transformation and can seek out metastases distal to the primary tumor site. Here, we aim to define the key features of NK cells as effective agents for PDAC immunotherapy.

Methods

We used The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) PDAC Firehose data and flow cytometry to predict and measure the most common activating or inhib

SUBMITTER: Lee SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12933757 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature