autologous NK cell therapy (The First Hospital of Jilin University)

Autologous NK cell therapy is an adoptive cellular immunotherapy approach developed by Dr. Jiuwei Cui and colleagues at the First Hospital of Jilin University. The treatment involves the ex vivo expansion of a patient's own natural killer (NK) cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected via apheresis. In some protocols described by the research group, the expansion process also yields gamma-delta T (γδT) cells and cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells, creating a multi-component cellular product. These expanded cells are re-infused into the patient, typically as maintenance therapy following first-line chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The therapy aims to leverage the non-MHC-restricted cytotoxic activity of NK cells to eliminate residual tumor cells and prevent recurrence. A Phase II clinical trial demonstrated that this maintenance therapy significantly extended overall survival in SCLC patients who had responded to initial chemotherapy compared to those receiving routine follow-up.

Other names

NK cell-based immunotherapyautologous adoptive transfer of NK cellsautologous cellular immunotherapyCIT