Calreticulin exposure on malignant blasts correlates with improved natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity in acute myeloid leukemia patients.

Calreticulin exposure on malignant blasts correlates with improved natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity in acute myeloid leukemia patients. Haematologica. 2019 Oct 03;: Authors: Truxova I, Kasikova L, Salek C, Hensler M, Lysak D, Holicek P, Bilkova P, Holubova M, Chen X, Mikyskova R, Reinis M, Kovar M, Tomalova B, Kline JP, Galluzzi L, Spisek R, Fucikova J Abstract In some settings, cancer cells responding to treatment undergo an immunogenic form of cell death that is associated with the abundant emission of danger signals in the form of damage-associated molecular patterns. Accumulating preclinical and clinical evidence indicates that danger signals play a crucial role in the (re-)activation of antitumor immune responses in vivo, thus having a major impact on patient prognosis. We have previously demonstrated that the presence of calreticulin on the surface of malignant blasts is a positive prognostic biomarker for patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Calreticulin exposure not only correlated with enhanced T cell-dependent antitumor immunity in this setting but also affected the number of circulating natural killer cells upon restoration of normal hematopoiesis. Here, we report that calreticulin exposure on malignant blasts is associated with enhanced natural killer cell cytotoxic and secretory functions, both in acute myeloid leukemia patients and in vivo in mice. The ability of calreticulin to stimulate natural killer cells ...
Source: Haematologica - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: Haematologica Source Type: research