Endogenous reprogramming of NK cell activation signal via base editing

Tumor-mediated immune evasion is increasingly identified as a critical barrier limiting adoptive cell therapies in solid tumors. In our recently published paper in Cancer Research (2026; 86: 1956–67), we address this challenge by deploying a high-fidelity base-editing platform to permanently disrupt the TIGIT inhibitory checkpoint in primary natural killer (NK) cells. This intervention leads to the complete rebalancing of receptor-ligand interactions, suggesting that reprogramming endogenous receptor networks offers a more sophisticated alternative to conventional engineering.