Cha Bundang Women Medical Center said its research team has found that higher expression of UL 16 binding protein 1 (ULBP1), which activates natural killer (NK) cells, increases the survival rate of ovarian cancer patients.

A research team of Cha Bundang Women Medical Center, led by Professors Park Hyun (left) and Kwon Ah-young, has discovered that higher expression of UL 16 binding protein 1 (ULBP1) increases the survival rate of ovarian cancer patients.
A research team of Cha Bundang Women Medical Center, led by Professors Park Hyun (left) and Kwon Ah-young, has discovered that higher expression of UL 16 binding protein 1 (ULBP1) increases the survival rate of ovarian cancer patients.

The research team, led by Professors Park Hyun and Kwon Ah-young, removed cancer tissues from 79 patients with ovarian cancer and analyzed the degree of expression of MICA/B, ULPB1, and ULPB3, which bind to NKG2D, a major activating receptor for NK cells. Recognizing MICA and MICB is involved in tumor surveillance, viral infections, and autoimmune diseases.

The study results showed that ovarian cancer patients with higher expression of ULBP1 had about 26.3 percent lower risk of recurrence than those with lower expression rates.

Researchers also found that the expression level of ULPB1 was related to the survival rate along with age and anticancer resistance.

NK cells are responsible for the immune surveillance of cancer cells. These cells are stimulated and activated by activating factors from the surface of cancer cells, and the activated NK cells kill cancer cells. Patients with NK cells did not experience a recurrence in the analysis of high-grade adenocarcinoma, which shows the worst prognosis in ovarian cancers. However, 54.3 percent of those without NK cells relapsed, and 30.1 percent of the patients died from the disease.

“Although various new treatments, including targeted therapies, are being applied to cancer treatment recently, ovarian cancer is still difficult to treat and predict the treatment response,” Professor Park said. “As we have confirmed the significance of NK cells in ovarian cancer in the study, we expect immune cell therapy using NK cells to be a new alternative option for treating intractable cancers.”

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