Cytokine-induced memory-like natural killer cells have enhanced function, proliferation, and in vivo expansion against ovarian cancer cells

摘要

Objective. Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes well suited for adoptive immunotherapy. Attempts with adoptive NK cell immunotherapy against ovarian cancer have proven unsuccessful, with the main limitations including failure to expand and diminished effector function. We investigated if incubation of NK cells with inter-leukin (IL)-12, IL-15, and IL-18 for 16 h could produce cytokine-induced memory-like (CIML) NK cells capable of enhanced function against ovarian cancer.