Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 4, 2025

Tractable In Vivo Reprogramming of Tumor Cells to Type 1 Conventional Dendritic Cell-like Cells
Published on: August 1, 2025
Characterization and Manipulation of the Crosstalk Between Dendritic and Natural Killer Cells Within the Tumor
Benedikt Jacobs1, Veronika Gebel2,3,4, Lukas Heger5
1Department of Internal Medicine 5, Haematology and Oncology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Abstract:
Cellular therapy has entered the daily clinical life with the approval of CAR T cell therapeutics and dendritic cell (DCs) vaccines in the US and the EU. In addition, numerous other adoptive cellular products, including natural killer (NK) cells, are currently evaluated in early phase I/ II clinical trials for the treatment of cancer patients. Despite these promising accomplishments, various challenges remain to be mastered in order to ensure sustained therapeutic success. These include the identification of strategies by which tumor cells escape the immune system or establish an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). As part of the innate immune system, DCs and NK cells are both present within the TME of various tumor entities. While NK cells are well known for their intrinsic anti-tumor activity by their cytotoxicity capacities and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the role of DCs within the TME is a double-edged sword as different DC subsets have been described with either tumor-promoting or -inhibiting characteristics. In this review, we will discuss recent findings on the interaction of DCs and NK cells under physiological conditions and within the TME. One focus is the crosstalk of various DC subsets with NK cells and their impact on the progression or inhibition of tumor growth. In addition, we will provide suggestions to overcome the immunosuppressive outcome of the interaction of DCs and NK cells within the TME.
Related Concept Videos
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
The Tumor Microenvironment
Cells of the Innate Immune Response
Phagocytes
Phagocytes police the peripheral tissues by removing cellular debris and responding to the invasion of foreign substances or pathogens. Many phagocytes attack and remove microorganisms even before lymphocytes detect them. The human body has two general...
Tumor Immunotherapy
T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
Immune Surveillance by NK Cells and Phagocytes
Natural Killer Cells: The Fast Responders
NK cells are large granular lymphocytes found in the blood and lymphatic system. These...

