Attacks cancer stem cells – the only agent with this capability

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Unlike cytotoxic cancer treatments, Natural Killer (NK) cells are able to target and eliminate quiescent/non-proliferating cells such as cancer stem cells (CSCs), and these enigmatic cells are an important source of relapse and metastasis. CSCs are a small subpopulation of self-renewing malignant and oncogenic cells that drive tumor initiation and progression. There is increasing data demonstrating that NK cells can selectively identify and lyse CSCs.

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