ReviewInflammation and regeneration2026
Natural killer cells: gatekeepers of healthy aging in longevity medicine.
Review in Inflammation and regeneration, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that provide rapid immune surveillance through the recognition and elimination of virally infected, malignant, and stressed cells. Beyond their established roles in host defense, accumulating evidence indicates that NK cells undergo profound age-associated remodeling affecting subset distribution, receptor balance, metabolic programming, and effector function. These changes, collectively referred to as NK immunosenescence, contribute to impaired clearance of senescent cells, dysregulated inflammation, and increased susceptibility to cancer, infection, and metabolic disease. In this review, we integrate current knowledge of NK cell aging into the emerging framework of longevity medicine. Rather than introducing NK cells as a newly identified determinant of aging, we synthesize evidence positioning them as key immune effectors whose functional state reflects and influences biological aging processes. We highlight how NK cells participate in senescence surveillance, tissue homeostasis, and immunometabolic regulation across organs, and how their dysfunction intersects with multiple hallmarks of aging. We further discuss the potential utility of NK-related phenotypic and functional metrics as complementary biomarkers of immune aging, while acknowledging current limitations in specificity and prognostic validation. Finally, we examine therapeutic strategies aimed at preserving or restoring NK competence, ranging from lifestyle and nutritional interventions to cytokine-based therapies, immune checkpoint modulation, and emerging cellular platforms. While many advanced NK-targeted approaches remain investigational-particularly outside oncology settings-we outline a translational roadmap linking NK biology to actionable interventions and measurable outcomes relevant to healthspan. By situating NK cells within a systems-level view of immune aging, this review frames them as a tractable component of precision longevity medicine rather than a singular regulator of aging.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.