haploidentical natural killer cells

Haploidentical natural killer (NK) cell therapy involves the infusion of NK cells from a partially matched (haploidentical) donor—typically a parent, sibling, or child—into a patient. The process usually includes lymphodepleting chemotherapy to reduce host immune activity and facilitate donor cell engraftment. After infusion, patients may receive interleukin-2 (IL-2) or other cytokines to stimulate NK cell proliferation and activation. The primary mechanism is based on the "missing self" hypothesis: donor NK cells recognize and kill target tumor cells that lack self-major histocompatibility complex class I molecules due to inhibitory KIR-ligand mismatching. This approach has shown efficacy in inducing remissions in some patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), particularly those with relapsed or refractory disease[1][3][5].

Other names

donor-derived haploidentical natural killer cellsallogeneic NK cell therapyadoptive transfer of haploidentical NK cells