Transcriptomic profiling of CAR-NK and NR3C1-knockout CAR-NK cells exposed to hydrocortisone and hypoxia-mimicking conditions
Steroids enriched within the lung tumor microenvironment suppress the cytotoxic activity of tumor-infiltrating NK cells and intensify hypoxic stress. To model these conditions in vitro, CEACAM5-specific CAR-NK cells and NR3C1-knockout CAR-NK cells were exposed to hydrocortisone (1 µM), hypoxia-mimicking CoCl2 (100 µM), or their combination. NK cells were treated for 24 hours, followed by a 6-hour co-culture with A549 lung cancer cells to activate NK-cell effector programs. After co-culture, NK cells were isolated to high purity and subjected to bulk RNA sequencing to characterize transcriptional changes driven by steroid signalling, hypoxia, and glucocorticoid receptor deficiency. This dataset includes multiple treatment groups: untreated CAR-NK cells, hypoxia-treated CAR-NK cells, combined hypoxia + hydrocortisone–treated CAR-NK cells, and corresponding NR3C1-knockout CAR-NK cell groups under identical conditions.