Image of an NK cell killing a cancer cell
Lectures & Learning Opportunities School & College Events

Natural Born Killer Cells Prevent Cancer and May Cure It

White blood cells, also known as natural killer (NK) cells, are one of our major defenses against cancer and infection. They recognize and kill dysregulated cancer cells, which activate stress pathways and therefore display proteins that signal “kill me” to NK cells. NK cells survey our body and eliminate some cancers before we know we have them. Other cancers escape this surveillance, but certain drugs based on natural products can hyperactivate NK cells to eliminate even advanced tumors. Findings show that activating natural killer cells is a promising new approach for curing cancer.

Hosted by College of Letters and Science

Speaker:

Image of David Raulet speaking
David H. Raulet
Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology

Professor David Raulet’s research addresses how the immune system recognizes and responds to cancer cells and virus-infected cells, with an emphasis on the natural killer cell. Related to T cells, natural killer cells employ completely different strategies to attack cancerous and infected cells. Raulet has uncovered keys to their capacity for recognizing and destroying many types of cancer cells. Raulet was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2019 and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists.