Bortezomib Augments Natural Killer Cell Targeting of Stem-Like Tumor Cells.

Tumor cells harboring stem-like/cancer stem cell (CSC) properties have been identified and isolated from numerous hematological and solid malignancies. These stem-like tumor cells can persist following conventional cytoreductive therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, thereby repopulating the tumor and seeding relapse and/or metastasis. We have previously shown that natural killer (NK) cells preferentially target stem-like tumor cells via non- major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted mechanisms.