Droplet microfluidic profiling of NK cell cytotoxicity with machine learning-enabled target-cell death analysis
Abstract
expansion and ascites-mediated TME conditioning reshape individual NK-cell function. The results demonstrated that expanded NK cells (exNK) exhibited superior cytotoxic activity, serial killing, and rapid killing dynamics, whereas peripheral blood NK cells (pbNK), especially after exposure to ascites TME (pbNK-asc), showed reduced function across all cytotoxicity metrics. Notably, expanded NK cells exposed to ascites TME (exNK-asc) retained partial functionality, indicating that expansion provides resilience against suppressive factors. This single-cell platform provides insight into NK-cancer cell interactions and offers a scalable framework for optimizing off-the-shelf NK cell-based immunotherapies.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation
3D Printing in Biomedical Research
Cell Image Analysis Techniques
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Lab on a Chip
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 3743–3761
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN