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Sun et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:80 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2019.29 Metastasis and Treatment

Review Open Access

Lectin-like transcript 1 as a natural killer cell-
mediated immunotherapeutic target for triple

negative breast cancer and prostate cancer

Yuanhong Sun , Joseph D. Malaer , Porunelloor A. Mathew
#
#
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas
76107, USA.
# These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Dr. Porunelloor A. Mathew, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics, University of North
Texas Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, Texas 76107, USA.
E-mail: porunelloor.mathew@unthsc.edu

How to cite this article: Sun Y, Malaer JD, Mathew PA. Lectin-like transcript 1 as a natural killer cell-mediated
immunotherapeutic target for triple negative breast cancer and prostate cancer. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2019;5:80.
http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2019.29
Received: 29 Aug 2019 First Decision: 8 Nov 2019 Revised: 5 Dec 2019 Accepted: 9 Dec 2019 Published: 17 Dec 2019

Science Editor: Pravin D. Potdar Copy Editor: Jing-Wen Zhang Production Editor: Tian Zhang

Abstract
Breast and prostate cancer are the leading causes of death in females and males, respectively. Triple negative
breast cancer (TNBC) does not express the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, or human epidermal growth
factor receptor 2, resulting in limited treatment options. Androgen deprivation therapy is the standard care for
prostate cancer patients; however, metastasis and recurrence are seen in androgen-independent prostate cancer.
Both prostate and breast cancer show higher resistance after recurrence and metastasis, which increases the
difficulty of treatment. Natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role during innate immunity and tumor recognition
and elimination. NK cell function is determined by a delicate balance of inhibitory signals and activation signals
received through cell surface receptors. Lectin-like transcript 1 (LLT1, CLEC2D, OCIL) is a ligand of NK cell
inhibitory receptor NKRP1A (CD161). Several studies have that reported higher expression of LLT1 is associated
with the development of various tumors. Our studies revealed that TNBC and prostate cancer cells express
higher levels of LLT1. In the presence of a monoclonal antibody against LLT1, NK cell-mediated killing of TNBC and
prostate cancer cells were greatly enhanced. This review highlights the potential that using monoclonal antibodies
to block LLT1 - NKRP1A interactions could be an effective immunotherapeutic approach to treat triple negative
breast cancer and prostate cancer.

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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