The Role of Natural Killer Cells in the Tumor Immune Microenvironment of EBV-Associated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Endemic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is closely associated with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which contributes to tumor development and influences the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) in NPC. Natural killer (NK) cells, as part of the innate immune system, play a crucial role in responding to viral infections and malignant cell transformations. Notably, NK cells possess a unique ability to target tumor cells independent of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) expression.

Unfolding the Complexity of Exosome-Cellular Interactions on Tumour Immunity and Their Clinical Prospects in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy situated in the posterolateral nasopharynx. NPC poses grave concerns in Southeast Asia due to its late diagnosis. Together with resistance to standard treatment combining chemo- and radiotherapy, NPC presents high metastatic rates and common recurrence.

ImmuneMirror: A machine learning-based integrative pipeline and web server for neoantigen prediction.

Neoantigens are derived from somatic mutations in the tumors but are absent in normal tissues. Emerging evidence suggests that neoantigens can stimulate tumor-specific T-cell-mediated antitumor immune responses, and therefore are potential immunotherapeutic targets. We developed ImmuneMirror as a stand-alone open-source pipeline and a web server incorporating a balanced random forest model for neoantigen prediction and prioritization.

Shift in Tissue-Specific Immune Niches and CD137 Expression in Tuberculoma of Pembrolizumab-Treated Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients.

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer treatment has shown promise but can also have unintended consequences, such as reactivating latent tuberculosis (TB). To develop treatments that address ICIs-related adverse events, it is essential to understand cellular heterogeneity across healthy and pathological tissues. We performed cross-tissue multiplexed staining analysis on samples from two patients with TB reactivation during pembrolizumab treatment for metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Nasopharynx Battlefield: Cellular Immune Responses Mediated by Midkine in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma and COVID-19.

Clinical evidence suggests that the severe respiratory illness coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is often associated with a cytokine storm that results in dysregulated immune responses. Prolonged COVID-19 positivity is thought to disproportionately affect cancer patients. With COVID-19 disrupting the delivery of cancer care, it is crucial to gain momentum and awareness of the mechanistic intersection between these two diseases.