Transcriptomic landscape of lenalidomide-treated NK cells: Functional enhancement by down-regulation of CD161

Lenalidomide is a potential immunomodulator that enhances the anti‐tumor effect of natural killer (NK) cells. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of anti‐tumor effects and long‐term activating effect on NK cells are unclear. Here, we report that lenalidomide in the long stimulation with interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) enhances the proliferation and specific anti‐tumor function of NK cells by modulating transcriptomic patterns, including downregulation of KLRB1 (CD161). In conclusion, the results suggest that lenalidomide may be more applicable in the field of cancer immunotherapy by exhibiting specific cytotoxicity ability enhancement of NK cells against cancer cells as well as long‐term activating effect on NK cells. Support or Funding Information The research fund was supported by Ministry of Science, Technology and Information, Republic of Korea (Grant no. 2019R1F1A1054920)