Natural killer cell alloreactivity for leukemia therapy

Loredana Ruggeri1, Antonella Mancusi, Katia Perruccio

  • 1Division of Hematology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Perugia, 06122 Perugia, Italy.

Donor-versus-recipient natural killer (NK) cell alloreactivity derives from a mismatch between donor NK clones, carrying specific inhibitory receptors for self MHC class I molecules, and MHC class I ligands on recipient cells. When faced with mismatched allogeneic targets, these donor NK clones sense the missing expression of self HLA class I alleles and mediate alloreactions. Transplantation from NK alloreactive haploidentical donors controls acute myeloid leukemia relapse and improves engraftment without causing graft-versus-host disease.