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Activated pancreatic stellate cells inhibit NK cell function in the human pancreatic cancer microenvironment

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 16, pages 87–89 (2019)Cite this article

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one the most malignant cancers and has been shown to have increasing morbidity and mortality in recent years.1 Since PDAC is always diagnosed at an advanced stage, only a few patients are suitable for surgical resection. Most patients who receive chemotherapy or radiotherapy targeting pancreatic cancer do not significantly benefit from these treatments.2 Accumulating evidence has indicated that the microenvironment composed of pancreatic cancer cells and other cell types is critical in regulating tumor progression, which could serve as a therapeutic target for PDAC.3

It has been demonstrated that the stroma of PDAC is enriched with activated pancreatic stellate cells (aPSCs), which express alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and promote tumor cell proliferation and migration.4 Recently, aPSCs were reported to prevent CD8+ T cells from infiltrating tumor tissues to exert anti-tumor immunity, mediate the migration of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) into tumor tissue and promote mast cell activation, which together lead to immune privilege in the microenvironment of PDAC and promote tumor progression.5,6,7 However, how aPSCs impact another major cytotoxic cell type, natural killer (NK) cells, in the stromal-rich PDAC microenvironment is not yet fully understood.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81501354).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Qiang Huang, Mei Huang & Futao Meng

  2. Institute of Immunology, School of Life Science and Medical Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Rui Sun

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Correspondence to Qiang Huang or Rui Sun.

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Huang, Q., Huang, M., Meng, F. et al. Activated pancreatic stellate cells inhibit NK cell function in the human pancreatic cancer microenvironment. Cell Mol Immunol 16, 87–89 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-018-0014-2

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