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International Immunology Advance Access first published online on October 25, 2009
This version published online on October 27, 2009
International Immunology, doi:10.1093/intimm/dxp104
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© The Japanese Society for Immunology. 2009. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

review-article

The specialized iNKT cell system recognizes glycolipid antigens and bridges the innate and acquired immune systems with potential applications for cancer therapy

Masaru Taniguchi, Takuya Tashiro, Nyambayar Dashtsoodol, Naomi Hongo and Hiroshi Watarai

Laboratory of Immune Regulation, RIKEN Research Center for Allergy and Immunology, 1-7-22, Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Japan

Correspondence to: M. Taniguchi; E-mail: taniguti{at}rcai.riken.jp

Invariant NKT (iNKT) cells bridge innate and acquired immunity and play an important role in both protective and regulatory responses. The nature of the response is dictated by the initial cytokine environment: interaction with IL-10-producing cells induces negative regulatory Th2/regulatory T cell-type iNKT cells, while that with IL-12-producing cells results in pro-inflammatory Th1-type responses. Particularly, in the anti-tumor response, iNKT cells mediate adjuvant activity by their production of IFN-{gamma}, which in turn activates both innate and acquired immune systems. Thus, upon activation of iNKT cells, both MHC– and MHC+ tumor cells can be efficiently eliminated. On the basis of these mechanisms, iNKT cell-targeted adjuvant cell therapies have been developed and have shown great promise in initial clinical trials on cancer patients.

Keywords: adjuvant activity, CD1d, {alpha}-galactosylceramide, invariant V{alpha}14J{alpha}18, iNKT cell-targeted adjuvant therapy

Received 6 August 2009, accepted 28 September 2009.


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