In this thesis, the main obstacles limiting full clinical efficacy of NK cell therapies against cancer were tackled. By engineering NK cells with antibodybinding receptors, NK cell cytotoxic responses were directed and further enhanced against tumors. In addition, IL-15 engineering improved the lifespan of NK cells and improved the general antitumor functionality. Last, tumors can inhibit NK cell responses through the release of certain blocking factors. Engineering of NK cells to abrogate this inhibition significantly improved their therapeutic efficacy. We anticipate that collective targeting of all three obstacles is needed to improve the clinical efficacy of our NK cell product against cancer.
Marcos (1997) obtained his Master's degree in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, cum laude, at the Radboud University in 2021 after which he started with his PhD research within the Laboratory of Hematology at Radboudumc. Currently, he is working as a post-doctoral researcher in the same laboratory to try to expand the implementation of NK cell therapies against glioblastoma and neuroblastoma.