ArticleCancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII2021
Anti-PD-1 antibody increases NK cell cytotoxicity towards nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells in the context of chemotherapy-induced upregulation of PD-1 and PD-L1.
Article in Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The current role of immunotherapy in treating nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Review
- Review
- Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: epidemiology, risk factors, signaling pathways, clinical features, diagnosis, and management.Molecular biomedicine · 2026Review
- Regulation of immune checkpoint molecules in cancer immune evasion and therapy.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- Core regulatory mechanisms of the PD-L1 axis and clinical strategies for immune escape and immunotherapy response in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Translational oncology · 2026Review
- TME remodeling and clinical challenges of immune checkpoint blockade in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Article
- PD-1 inhibitor combined with TPF induction chemotherapy in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a retrospective study of efficacy and safety.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Immunocytes in the tumor microenvironment: recent updates and interconnections.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Harnessing the Power of NK Cell Receptor Engineering as a New Prospect in Cancer Immunotherapy.Pharmaceutics · 2024Review
- The efficacy and safety of adding PD-1 blockade to induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (IC-CCRT) for locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: an observational, propensity score-matched analysis.Cancer immunology, immunotherapy : CII · 2024Observational
- The Role of Natural Killer Cells in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment of EBV-Associated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.Cancers · 2024Review
- PD-1 Inhibitors Combined with Chemotherapy versus Re-irradiation/chemoradiotherapy for Unresectable Locally Recurrent T3-4 Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study.Journal of Cancer · 2024Article
- Advances in PD-1 signaling inhibition-based nano-delivery systems for tumor therapy.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2023Review
- Article
- Functional crosstalk and regulation of natural killer cells in tumor microenvironment: Significance and potential therapeutic strategies.Genes & diseases · 2023Review
- Alterations in Natural Killer Cells in Colorectal Cancer Patients with Stroma AReactive Invasion Front Areas (SARIFA).Cancers · 2023Article
- Killer instincts: natural killer cells as multifactorial cancer immunotherapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- The emergence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Predictive value and immunotherapy implications.Genes & diseases · 2022Review
- Reshaping the systemic tumor immune environment (STIE) and tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) to enhance immunotherapy efficacy in solid tumors.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2022Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly malignant epithelial cancer linked to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Tumors are characterized by a lymphomononuclear infiltrate and the number of natural killer (NK) cells in tumors appears to be of prognostic significance. Standard treatment for NPC in adolescents and young adults consists of induction chemotherapy followed by radiochemotherapy. Though survival rates are above 80%, the majority of patients suffer from long-term side-effects, mainly related to radiotherapy. The addition of immunotherapy to induction chemotherapy could improve tumor response.
methodsWe have investigated the killing of NPC cells by NK cells in the context of chemotherapy, using a panel of three nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines and a patient-derived xenograft. Cytotoxicity was measured using the calcein-release assay, while the contribution of different checkpoints and signaling pathways to killing was studied by siRNA-mediated gene silencing and chemical inhibitors.
resultsChemotherapeutics cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and gemcitabine sensitized NPC cells to killing by NK cells. Chemotherapeutics led to upregulation of PD-1 in NK cells and PD-L1 in NPC cells via NF-κB. Inhibition of the PD-L1/PD-1 checkpoint by an anti-PD-1 antibody or siRNA increased NK-cell cytotoxicity towards NPC cells.
conclusionThe addition of an anti-PD-1 antibody to chemotherapy in patients with NPC could increase the efficacy of induction chemotherapy. If confirmed in a clinical trial, more efficient induction therapy could allow the dose of radiotherapy to be reduced and thereby diminish severe late effects of such therapy.
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