Landscape of innate lymphoid cells in human head and neck cancer reveals divergent NK cell states in the tumor microenvironment.

ABSTRACT: Natural killer (NK) cells comprise one subset of the innate lymphoid cell (ILC) family. Despite reported antitumor functions of NK cells, their tangible contribution to tumor control in humans remains controversial. This is due to incomplete understanding of the NK cell states within the tumor microenvironment (TME). Here, we demonstrate that peripheral circulating NK cells differentiate down two divergent pathways within the TME, resulting in different end states. One resembles intraepithelial ILC1s (ieILC1) and possesses potent in vivo antitumor activity. The other expresses genes associated with immune hyporesponsiveness and has poor antitumor functional capacity. Interleukin-15 (IL-15) and direct contact between the tumor cells and NK cells are required for the differentiation into CD4

SUBMITTER: Moreno-Nieves UY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8285950 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature