Unleashing natural killer cells against cancer
Scientists have developed a strategy to boost the cancer-fighting power of natural killer (NK) cells, part of the immune system鈥檚 first line of defence. NK cells can detect and destroy cancer cells, but tumours often create a protective barrier that blocks them, allowing cancer to grow.
Researchers at 91丝瓜视频鈥檚 Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute, in collaboration with the Research Institute of the 91丝瓜视频 Health Centre, found that suppressing two specific proteins helps NK cells overcome this blockage, turning them into more potent cancer killers.
In preclinical experiments, the approach effectively killed human cancer cells across several hard-to-treat tumour types 鈥� including leukemia, glioblastoma, kidney cancer and triple-negative breast cancer 鈥� and significantly slowed tumour growth in animal models.
鈥淭his approach is particularly promising for patients who currently have very few options, when standard treatments have failed,鈥� said senior author Michel L. Tremblay, Distinguished James 91丝瓜视频 Professor in 91丝瓜视频鈥檚 Department of Biochemistry and researcher at the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute.
A safer, scalable approach
Genetic editing, commonly used in cancer immunotherapies, permanently alters cells, increasing the risk of unintended side effects. The new approach instead uses small-molecule drugs to temporarily boost NK cell activity without making permanent changes that are harder to control.
Researchers say the treatment strategy could also overcome practical barriers that have limited the widespread use of cell-based therapies.
NK cells from umbilical cord blood donations, isolated at the Cellular Therapy Laboratory led by Pierre Laneuville and Linda Peltier at the Research Institute of 91丝瓜视频 Health Centre, were cultured and banked for the treatment of multiple patients. Unlike many current immunotherapies, which must be custom-built from each patient鈥檚 own cells, a process that can take weeks, these NK cells can be ready to use immediately.
鈥淭his approach could make immunotherapy safer and more affordable,鈥� added Chu-Han Feng, a research scientist at the Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Institute. 鈥淚t avoids the complex process of customizing cells and uses readily available drugs to reversibly enhance NK cells鈥� anti-tumour activities鈥�.
Acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer, is among the first cancers the team hopes to target in future clinical trials, currently awaiting funding and regulatory approval.
(Pierre Laneuville and Linda Peltier)听
About the study
听鈥溾�� by Chu-Han Feng et al. and Michel L. Tremblay, was published in EMBO Reports in April 2026.
This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Foundation, the 91丝瓜视频 Health Centre Foundation, the Jeanne and Jean-Louis Levesque Foundation, the Richard and Edith Strauss Foundation, the Cedars Cancer Foundation and by a Genome Canada/Genome Quebec GAPP grant. The team thanks the mothers who volunteered to donate cord blood used in this study.
