title: Acquisition, preparation, and functional assessment of human NK cells for adoptive immunotherapy.
abstract: Human natural killer (NK) cells, a subset of peripheral blood lymphocytes that lack a T- or B-cell receptor, play a crucial role in the innate immune response to viruses and malignant cells. NK cells differentiate infected or malignant cells from normal cells by a complex balance between activating and inhibitory receptor-ligand interactions. Unlike T cells, NK cells do not proliferate in vitro in response to simple crosslinking of a single activating receptor. While many methods to study T-cell function and phenotype can also be applied to NK cells, this chapter addresses methods that are unique to the preparation and assessment of human NK cells for immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatrics, Cell Therapy Section, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Dean A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Verneris
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Campana
mesh_terms: D015550:Cell Degranulation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002469:Cell Separation; D006801:Humans; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Q000379:methods*; D020014:K562 Cells; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology