Molecules and Cells

Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology (한국분자세포생물학회)
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iPSC-Derived Natural Killer Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy

  • Karagiannis, Peter (Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University) ;
  • Kim, Shin-Il (Research and Development Center, THERABEST, Co., Ltd.)
  • Received : 2021.03.31
  • Accepted : 2021.06.21
  • Published : 2021.08.31
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Abstract

The discovery of human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) at the turn of the century opened the door to a new generation of regenerative medicine research. Among PSCs, the donors available for induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are greatest, providing a potentially universal cell source for all types of cell therapies including cancer immunotherapies using natural killer (NK cells). Unlike primary NK cells, those prepared from iPSCs can be prepared with a homogeneous quality and are easily modified to exert a desired response to tumor cells. There already exist several protocols to genetically modify and differentiate iPSCs into NK cells, and each has its own advantages with regards to immunotherapies. In this short review, we detail the benefits of using iPSCs in NK cell immunotherapies and discuss the challenges that must be overcome before this approach becomes mainstream in the clinic.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Misaki Ouchida (Center for iPS Cell Research and Application) and Bokyung Moon (THERABEST, Co., Ltd.) for one of the figure illustrations and the iPS cell microscopy image, respectively. This work was supported by the Core Center for iPS Cell Research (20bm0104001h0008), Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine from AMED (Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development) and a 2020 Gibon Yeongu Program from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (2020R1F1A106727812 to S.I.K.).

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