%0 Journal Article
%A Zhou, Xiangda
%A Zhang, Sijia
%A Yang, Wenjuan
%A Gonder, Susanne
%A Sadjadi, Zeinab
%A Piernitzki, Nils
%A Moter, Alina
%A Sharma, Shulagna
%A Largeot, Anne
%A Küchler, Nadja
%A Kaschek, Lea
%A Schäfer, Gertrud
%A Schwarz, Eva C
%A Eichler, Hermann
%A Ullrich, Evelyn
%A Rieger, Heiko
%A Staufer, Oskar
%A Paggetti, Jérôme
%A Moussay, Etienne
%A Hoth, Markus
%A Qu, Bin
%T Restoring NK Cell Cytotoxicity Post-Cryopreservation via Synthetic Cells.
%J Advanced science
%V nn
%@ 2198-3844
%C Weinheim
%I Wiley-VCH
%M DKFZ-2025-01926
%P nn
%D 2025
%Z epub
%X Natural killer (NK) cells are critical components of the first-line immune defense, responsible for eliminating tumorigenic cells. NK cell-based adoptive immunotherapy has gained increasing attention; however, cryopreservation, a standard technique for NK cell storage, significantly impairs NK cell cytotoxicity, particularly in physiological 3D environments. Here, we demonstrate that short-term co-culture with effector T cells markedly enhances NK cell motility and killing functionality. Notably, a brief 1-day co-culture is sufficient to restore cryopreservation-impaired NK cell functionality in 3D environments. This enhancement requires direct contact between T cells and NK cells, which facilitates localized high concentrations of IL-2 at the cell contact sites. To develop a controled, donor-independent solution, we demonstrate that synthetic T cells with surface-bound IL-2 exhibit superior efficiency in revitalizing cryopreserved NK cells. These findings uncover a previously unrecognized role for physical contact-mediated local IL-2 signaling and provide an efficient, cost-effective, and tunable strategy to rescue NK cell functionality post-cryopreservation, paving the way for more scalable, potent, and clinically viable NK cell-based immunotherapies.
%K 3D (Other)
%K IL‐2 (Other)
%K NK cells (Other)
%K T cells (Other)
%K cryopreservation (Other)
%K cytotoxicity (Other)
%K synthetic cells (Other)
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ pmid:40966444
%R 10.1002/advs.202505731
%U https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/304817