{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T01:36:26Z","timestamp":1777512986912,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,23]],"date-time":"2025-04-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1745366400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Agencia Nacional de Promoci\u00f3n Cient\u00edfica y Tecnol\u00f3gica (ANPCyT)","award":["PICT-2021-I-A-00283"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PICT-2021-I-A-00283"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cells"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Treatment-free remission (TFR) is a key therapeutic goal for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients in deep molecular response (DMR). While predicting patient outcome remains challenging, different NK cell populations seem crucial. We conducted an immunological sub-study from the Argentina Stop Trial (AST), including 46 patients in 2019 (AST I) and 35 new patients between 2022 and 2023 (AST II). To characterize NK cell subsets in patients attempting TFR, peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples were collected before stopping treatment and phenotype and functional characteristics were assessed by flow cytometry. Non-relapsing patients from AST I exhibited NK cell subpopulations with cytomegalovirus-related memory features, high expression of cytotoxicity markers, and robust functionality. Remarkably, though clinical variables were very similar between cohorts, significant immune differences were observed. NK cell percentage and CD16 and CD57 receptor expression levels were significantly reduced in AST II (p = 0.0051; p = 0.0222; p = 0.0033, respectively), whereas NKp46, NKp44 and PD-1 expression levels were significantly increased (p = 0.0081; p &lt; 0.0001; p &lt; 0.0001, respectively). NK cells from AST II patients demonstrated higher overall functionality and more memory-like subpopulations, characterized mainly by the expression of CD57, NKG2C, NKp30 and NKp46 receptors among CD56dim NK cells, also with enhanced functional performance. However, in AST II, we were unable to report an association with clinical outcome. Given the enrollment time of both cohorts and that they appear to be clinically homogeneous, we consider that COVID could be impacting the immune landscape; accordingly, serum samples from AST II, but not AST I, confirmed the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG. The influence of the COVID pandemic and the different vaccine platforms on NK cells cannot be underestimated when evaluating the role of the immune system in cancer.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cells14090628","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,23]],"date-time":"2025-04-23T03:43:37Z","timestamp":1745379817000},"page":"628","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic in NK Cell Subpopulations from CML Patients Enrolled in the Argentina Stop Trial"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Mar\u00eda Bel\u00e9n","family":"Sanchez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaciones Oncol\u00f3gicas\u2013Fundaci\u00f3n C\u00e1ncer FUCA, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bianca Vasconcelos","family":"Cordoba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaciones Oncol\u00f3gicas\u2013Fundaci\u00f3n C\u00e1ncer FUCA, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carolina","family":"Pavlovsky","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3n para Combatir la Leucemia (FUNDALEU), Buenos Aires 1114, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Beatriz","family":"Moiraghi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hospital Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Ramos Mej\u00eda, Buenos Aires 1221, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ana Ines","family":"Varela","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hospital Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Ramos Mej\u00eda, Buenos Aires 1221, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Isabel","family":"Giere","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3n para Combatir la Leucemia (FUNDALEU), Buenos Aires 1114, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mariana","family":"Juni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fundaci\u00f3n para Combatir la Leucemia (FUNDALEU), Buenos Aires 1114, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2638-516X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicolas","family":"Flaibani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratorio de Evoluci\u00f3n, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (FCEN-UBA), Instituto de Gen\u00e9tica, Ecolog\u00eda y Evoluci\u00f3n de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jos\u00e9","family":"Mordoh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaciones Oncol\u00f3gicas\u2013Fundaci\u00f3n C\u00e1ncer FUCA, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Julio Cesar Sanchez","family":"Avalos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2954-6667","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Estrella Mariel","family":"Levy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaciones Oncol\u00f3gicas\u2013Fundaci\u00f3n C\u00e1ncer FUCA, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Michele","family":"Bianchini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaciones Oncol\u00f3gicas\u2013Fundaci\u00f3n C\u00e1ncer FUCA, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.1038\/243290a0","article-title":"A new consistent chromosomal abnormality in chronic myelogenous leukaemia identified by quinacrine fluorescence and Giemsa staining cromosomal abnormality in CML","volume":"243","author":"Rowley","year":"1973","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"214","DOI":"10.1200\/JCO.2002.20.1.214","article-title":"Follow-Up of Complete Cytogenetic Remission in Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia After Cessation of Interferon Alfa","volume":"20","author":"Mahon","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. 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