title: Human invariant natural killer T cells: implications for immunotherapy.
abstract: Human invariant natural killer T cells are a unique lymphocyte population that have an invariant T-cell receptor and recognize glycolipids instead of peptides in the restriction of CD1d molecules. These natural killer T cells play important roles in anti-tumor immunity, transplantation immunity, allergy, autoimmunity and microbial immunity. Since human natural killer T cells show high-level biological activity such as cytokine production, an anti-tumor effect and regulatory T-cell control, they may be a useful tool in immune-cell therapy. In this review, we summarize the immune responses mediated by human natural killer T cells, especially in tumor and transplantation immunity, and discuss their potential in clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan. kurokawa-tky@umin.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Mineo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Q000379:methods*; D055611:Natural Killer T-Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D014181:Transplantation Immunology