Increased Susceptibility of the CD57– NK Cells Expressing KIR2DL2/3 and NKG2C to iCasp9 Gene Retroviral Transduction and the Relationships with Proliferative Potential, Activation Degree, and Death Induction Response
Cell therapy based on genetically modified NK cells is a promising strategy for cancer treatment, but the heterogeneity of NK cells limits the possibilities of this approach. The team from the Laboratory of Cell Interactions IBCh RAS demonstrated differences of NK cell subsets in susceptibility to retroviral transduction of the inducible caspase 9 (iCasp9) gene, the insertion of which can allow timely and rapid triggering of iCasp9-NK cell apoptosis with the addition of a special inductor in case of their excessive hyperactivity. The highest transduction efficiency was shown for the CD57–KIR2DL2/3+NKG2C+ NK cell subset, which was distinguished by an increased proliferative potential and an increased expression level of the HLA-DR activation marker. At the same time, among the iCasp9 populations, KIR2DL2/3+ NK cells responded most weakly to the apoptosis induction. The work is published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
january 19, 2022