About the Cover
Patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) have a median life expectancy of 8 to 11 months. These tumors are frequently associated with viral hepatitis. Natural killer (NK) cells recognize virally infected cells and malignant cells, so to develop an immunotherapy, the authors expanded and activated NK cells ex vivo. These cells, when reinfused into immunodeficient mice hosting human tumors, enabled many mice to survive and efficiently killed tumor cells. The cover is based on a fluorescence confocal image (far right) of PLC/PRF/5 hepatocarcinoma cells (green) surrounded by expanded, activated human NK cells (red). Cover by Lewis Long; image captured by T. Kamiya. Read more starting on page 574 in this issue of Cancer Immunology Research.