high-activity natural killer cell therapy

High-activity natural killer (NK) cell therapy refers to an adoptive immunotherapy approach in which NK cells are isolated from a donor or patient, expanded and activated ex vivo to enhance their cytotoxic function, and then infused back into the patient. These highly activated NK cells demonstrate increased expression of activating receptors and enhanced ability to target and kill tumor cells through mechanisms such as granzyme B/perforin-mediated apoptosis and death receptor ligand pathways (e.g., FasL, TRAIL). This therapeutic strategy is being investigated for various cancers, including advanced lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, triple-negative breast cancer, and others. The process typically involves expanding NK cells by over 100-fold with high purity (>80%) in culture over approximately two weeks before infusion[8][7][6]. Clinical studies have shown that this approach can be safe with promising efficacy signals in refractory cancers.

Other names

highly activated natural killer cellsHANK cell therapyhigh-activity NK cell therapy