Single and combination cytokines offer promise in some patients with advanced cancer. Many spontaneous and experimental cancers naturally express ligands for the lectin-like type-2 transmembrane stimulatory NKG2D immunoreceptor; however, the role this tumor recognition pathway plays in immunotherapy has not been explored to date. Here, we show that natural expression of NKG2D ligands on tumors ...

The MHC class I-related ligands of the immunoreceptor NKG2D are frequently expressed by tumor cells and stimulate tumor immunity mediated by CD8 T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. In humans, NKG2D ligands (NKG2DL) are encoded by the MHC-encoded MIC and non-MHC-encoded UL16-binding protein (ULBP) families of proteins. Recently, we and others showed that tumor cells release soluble MICA (sMIC...

The DNA damage response (DDR) upregulates the expression of NKG2D ligands (NKG2DLs).1,2 We have recently reported that the DDR also induces the presence of cytosolic DNA in B-cell lymphoma cells, which leads to the activation of STING-dependent cytosolic DNA sensor pathways and the expression of RAE-1 ligands for NKG2D.3.

Although the linkage between innate and adaptive immunity in transplantation has been recognized, the mechanisms underlying this cooperation remain to be fully elucidated. In this study, we show that early "danger" signals associated with transplantation lead to rapid up-regulation of NKG2D ligands. A second wave of NKG2D ligand up-regulation is mediated by the adaptive immune response to allog...

Natural Killer (NK) cells are essential for control of viral infection and cancer. NK cells express NKG2D, an activating receptor that directly recognizes NKG2D ligands. These are expressed at low level on healthy cells, but are induced by stresses like infection and transformation. The physiological events that drive NKG2D ligand expression during infection are still poorly understood. We obse...

PURPOSE The role of NKG2D receptor in antitumor immunosurveillance has not been completely clarified. We addressed this issue by investigating the involvement of this receptor in tumor-specific immunologic response in melanoma patients. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We determined the presence of NKG2D+ T cells among tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) of 10 (one primary and 9 metastatic) melanoma samp...

NKG2D is a major stimulatory receptor expressed by natural killer (NK) cells and some T cells. The receptor recognizes major histocompatibility complex class I-like cell surface ligands that are poorly expressed by normal tissues but are often induced in transformed and infected cells. The existence of several NKG2D ligands in each individual, some with strikingly divergent protein sequences, r...

The expression of the Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) E1A oncogene sensitizes tumor cells to natural killer (NK) cell-mediated killing and tumor rejection in vivo. These effects are dependent on the ability of E1A to bind the transcriptional coadaptor protein p300. To test the hypothesis that E1A up-regulates ligands recognized by the NKG2D-activating receptor, we stably transfected the highly tumo...

Pathogenic and oncogenic insults result in the induction of intrinsic defense mechanisms such as cell-death pathways and senescence, and extrinsic pathways that mobilize immune responses to destroy unhealthy cells. Both protective mechanisms presumably evolved to limit the damage these insults could inflict on the host. After viral infection or malignant transformation, unhealthy cells can be d...