Intratumor Heterogeneity Cancer exhibits intratumoral heterogeneity, where multiple different cell subpopulations (genotypes, phenotypes) exist within the same tumor, making control difficult with single-target therapies. Cancer cells have reduced levels of MHC class I antigens, which indicate self, so NK cells recognize cancer cells as non-self and attack them. Furthermore, when cells are subjected to stress such as cancer transformation or viral infection, they express NKG2D ligands (NKG2DL) such as MICA, MICB, and ULBP on their cell surface. NK cells reliably recognize and eliminate cells that have both low MHC class I levels and high NKG2DL levels as abnormal cells (targets). However, some cancer cells evade immune responses from NK cells […]

Autologous NK cell + allogeneic NK cell exosome combination therapy Cancer treatment using NK cells is an immunotherapy that increases the attack power against cancer cells by collecting lymphocytes from the patient’s own blood, culturing them using interleukin (IL)-2, etc., expanding NK cells and NKT cells, adding a strong NK activation function, and injecting them into the body. This treatment aims to help eliminate cancer cells and can be used in conjunction with conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Treatment mechanism • Role of NK cells NK (natural killer) cells are innate immune cells that find, attack, and destroy cancer and virus-infected cells. • Treatment flow: 1. Collect patient’s blood and […]

DNA methylation regulates gene function through epigenetics. It prevents unnecessary genes from functioning, creating individual cells and maintaining the normal functioning of our bodies. However, when DNA methylation becomes abnormal, it can inhibit the function of genes necessary for each cell, or promote genes that should be suppressed. For example, it has been found that when cancer cells are collected, abnormalities in DNA methylation are present. While cancer is normally prevented by the action of tumor-suppressing genes, in some cases, abnormalities in methylation can prevent these tumor-suppressing genes from functioning, leading to cancer development. In such cases, it is believed that if DNA methylation can be normalized using drugs that […]

Problems with NKT Cell Therapy NKT cells are cells that exist in very small numbers in the body. Normally, less than 0.1% of T cells in the blood are NKT cells, making it difficult to collect a sufficient number of them. Therefore, it is necessary to proliferate them in large quantities outside the body, but the small number of NKT cells obtained initially is a major constraint. In addition, NKT cells may proliferate more slowly in culture than general T cells. Slow proliferation means that it takes time to secure the number of cells necessary for treatment, making efficient culture difficult. Long-term culture of NKT cells can lead to the […]