Immune evasion mechanism of tumors mediated by NK cell receptors

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K22556
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 50:Oncology and related fields
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Hirayasu Kouyuki 金沢大学, 先進予防医学研究センター, 特任准教授 (30585170)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 免疫逃避機構 / 腫瘍細胞 / NK細胞 / NK細胞レセプター

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to elucidate the immune evasion mechanism of tumors focused on the inhibitory NK cell receptor KIRs, leading to the development of new target molecules for cancer immunotherapy.
A comprehensive analysis of the interaction between various inhibitory KIRs and various tumor cells revealed that one of the KIRs recognizes specific tumor cells, in which this study identified the candidate ligand. These results suggest that certain tumor cells may utilize the KIR ligands for immune evasion.

Free Research Field

免疫学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

がん患者では、免疫ががん細胞を排除できず免疫抑制状態となっていることが分かってきているが、その分子メカニズムは十分明らかとなっていない。本研究により、Natural Killer (NK)細胞に発現する免疫抑制化レセプターが特定のがん細胞を認識して免疫を抑制する可能性が示唆された。今後さらにこの免疫抑制化レセプターの抑制機能が明らかになれば、がん免疫療法の新たな標的分子につながることが期待できる。