Harnessing Invariant NKT Cells to Improve Influenza Vaccines: A Pig Perspective

Harnessing Invariant NKT Cells to Improve Influenza Vaccines: A Pig Perspective

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are an "innate-like" T cell lineage that recognize glycolipid rather than peptide antigens by their semi-invariant T cell receptors. Because iNKT cells can stimulate an extensive array of immune responses, there is considerable interest in targeting these cells to enhance human vaccines against a wide range of microbial pathogens. However, long overlooked...

NK, NKT and Invariant-NKT Cells in Tumor Draining Lymph Nodes of Patients with Breast Cancer

Background: NK (natural killer) and NKT (natural killer T) cells, as components of innate immune system, play a crucial role in tumor progression and dissemination. Objective: To investigate the percentages of NK cells, NKT cells, iNKT (invariant natural killer T) cells, total T lymphocytes as well as activated T lymphocytes, in tumor draining lymph nodes (TDLN...

Invariant NKT cells

Although invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells influence antitumor responses indirectly by secreting cytokines and promoting the cytolytic functions of T and NK cells, we find that iNKT cells mediate direct tumoricidal activity in vitro and significantly inhibit tumor growth in vivo, even in the absence of other cytotoxic lymphocytes.

Exploiting invariant NKT cells to promote T-cell responses to cancer vaccines

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells have the capacity to amplify adaptive immune responses by licensing antigen-presenting cells. A simple vaccine consisting of whole tumor cells pulsed with an iNKT-cell agonist efficiently delivers antigens plus adjuvants to endogenous dendritic cells and has potential for clinical applications.

Human Invariant NKT Cells Display