Although it is clear that natural killer (NK) cells have the ability to recognize and kill tumour cells in vitro, their potential as a highly effective treatment for tumours has not yet been realized in the clinical setting. Following activation, endogenous and adoptively transferred NK cells can be found in tumours. However, not all tumours are equally well-infiltrated, and many of the infiltrating cells do not make target-cell contact but rather reside in the tumour stroma. New insights into the migration of NK cells, their activation status and production of matrix-degrading proteases might help to overcome this localization defect, with implications for the treatment of human cancer.

中文翻译：

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NK细胞和肿瘤微环境：对NK细胞功能和抗肿瘤活性的影响。

尽管很明显自然杀伤（NK）细胞具有体外识别和杀死肿瘤细胞的能力，但在临床上尚未实现其作为高效治疗肿瘤的潜力。激活后，可以在肿瘤中发现内源性和过继转移的NK细胞。然而，并非所有的肿瘤都被同样良好地浸润，并且许多浸润细胞不与靶细胞接触，而是位于肿瘤基质中。对NK细胞迁移，它们的活化状态和基质降解蛋白酶产生的新见解可能有助于克服这种定位缺陷，对人类癌症的治疗具有重要意义。