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REVIEW article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cancer Cell Biology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1532491
This article is part of the Research Topic Metabolic and Immunological Biomarkers in Urological Cancers: Mechanistic Insights and Therapeutic Potential View all articles

NK cells in renal cell carcinoma and its implications for CAR-NK therapy

Provisionally accepted
Xinwei Li Xinwei Li Yuanpeng Zhang Yuanpeng Zhang Yuzhong Ye Yuzhong Ye WEN Xiao WEN Xiao *Lei Liu Lei Liu *Xiaoping Zhang Xiaoping Zhang *
  • Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a malignancy that makes up 3% of adult cancers and 20%-30% of patients were diagnosed with metastatic RCC in the beginning, while the median overall survival (OS) of metastatic RCC systemic therapy ranges from 16 months to 50 months. Immunotherapy, a novel therapy that relies on the specific binding of immune cells and tumor cells, may be a potential therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma. The chimeric antigen receptor NK-cell (CAR-NK) therapy has already been studied in some solid tumors, while several researches on CAR-NK therapy in RCC have been reported by some teams.While chimeric antigen receptor NK-cell (CAR-NK) therapy has been investigated in a variety of solid tumors, specific research on its application to RCC has also been reported by several teams. In this review, we introduced the cytotoxicity mechanisms of NK cells, summarized the connections between RCC and NK cells, and posted new insights into renal cell carcinoma CAR-NK therapy. To date, most researches focusing on renal cell carcinoma and NK cells only claimed the mechanisms of NK cell cytotoxicity and NK cell immune suppression and even immune escape, yet the molecules involved could also be interesting targets for renal cell carcinoma CAR-NK therapy.

    Keywords: Renal cell carcinoma, NK cell, immune response, CAR-NK, Immunotherapy

    Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Ye, Xiao, Liu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    WEN Xiao, Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
    Lei Liu, Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
    Xiaoping Zhang, Department of Urology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.