autologous activated natural killer cells

Autologous activated natural killer (NK) cells are an investigational cell-based immunotherapy developed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the treatment of pediatric and young adult patients with refractory solid tumors, including brain tumors, sarcomas, and neuroblastoma. The therapy involves harvesting the patient's own NK cells and expanding them ex vivo using artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) that express human 4-1BBL (TNFSF9) and IL-15Rα. This expansion process activates the NK cells and increases their numbers for therapeutic infusion. The cells are administered intravenously following lymphodepleting chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide. In certain clinical cohorts, the treatment is combined with recombinant human interleukin-15 (rhIL-15) to further stimulate NK cell proliferation and anti-tumor activity in vivo. The primary mechanism of action is direct, non-MHC-restricted cytotoxicity against tumor cells mediated by the activated NK cells.

Other names

activated NK cellsautologous NK cell infusionexpanded autologous NK cells