Ioannis K Toliopoulos*

¹Konstantinion Research Center of Molecular Medicine and Biotechnology, Thessaloniki, Greece

*Corresponding Author: Ioannis K Toliopoulos, Konstantinion Research Center of Molecular Medicine and Biotechnology, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Received: January 05, 2018; Published: January 09, 2018

Citation: Ioannis K Toliopoulos “The Major Role of Natural Killer Cells in Cancer Immunology and Reproductive Medicine”. Acta Scientific Cancer Biology 2.1 (2018).

  The discovery of NK cells in more than 30 years ago, open a new era in immunology and specifically in cancer immunology and reproductive immunology. Many studies have been taken place in medicine in order to obtain new diagnostic panels and therapeutic strategies involving NK cells.

  In cancer, it has been reported that the number of NK cells and their activity is decreased especially in cancer patients with solid tumors [1,2]. Different research projects suggest that a role of T lymphocytes might be significant in tumour development [3]. iNKT cells are a new subpopulation of T cells and show cytotoxic activity against tumours [4]. After activation, NK cells also secrete several cytokines such as interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GMCSF), and chemokines (CCL1, CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CCL5, and CXCL8) that can modulate the function of other innate and adaptive immune cells [5]. Also, several studies point out that apart from the NK cell cytotoxic function, the cytokines, which are secreted by the NK cells also provide a significant boost to the antitumor immunity. Similarly, the cytokines secreted by other immune cells or stromal cells in the tumor microenvironment can positively or negatively influence the antitumor function of NK cells [6,7]. Furthermore, studies concerning stimulation of NK cells have been performed by natural methods (administration of plant extracts and low frequency electromagnetic fields) without side effects and assisted in good quality of life in cancer patients with solid tumors [8].

Copyright: © 2018 Ioannis K Toliopoulos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.