Bárbara Bassani

Abstract Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Natural Killer (NKs) cells are pivotal for tumor surveillance but are dysfunctional in PDAC. We evaluated whether pharmacological blockade of TGF-β1/TGF-βR1 axis in PDAC cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) could modulate NK polarization via soluble factors.

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1. Introduction 1.1. Introduction to the Biology of Neutrophils Neutrophils are polymorphonuclear leukocytes and professional phagocytes of the innate immune system, playing a crucial role as the first line of defense in response to invading pathogens. As the most abundant type of white blood cells, neutrophils constitute approximately 50–70% of the overall circulating leukocytes, with a life span demonstrated to be up to 5 days [1,2,3].