ONTOGENY IS A CRITICAL DETERMINANT OF NATURAL KILLER CELL POTENTIAL AND FUNCTION

The derivation of natural killer (NK) cells from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is an exciting alternative for adoptive immunotherapy strategies in the treatment of cancer. While NK cells are component of the embryonic hematopoietic repertoire, their ontogenic origins remain unclear. During mammalian embryogenesis, hematopoietic development in the early yolk sac consists of the (HSC)-independent primitive and erythro-myeloid progenitor...