Bringing natural killer cells to the clinic: Opportunities beyond cancer

Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic and cytokine-producing innate lymphocytes with established roles in antiviral and antitumor immunity. In recent years, the biology of NK cells has been exploited in innovative cancer immunotherapies, leading to clinical advances including allogeneic NK cell infusions, chimeric antigen receptor NK cells, and NK cell engager technologies. These studies pave the way to explore how advances in NK cell–based immunotherapies could be leveraged outside of oncology to selectively target pathogenic cells and restore tissue homeostasis in viral infections, neurodegenerative disorders, autoimmunity, and transplantation medicine.