Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2025
Natural Killer NK and CAR-NK Cell Expansion Method using Membrane Bound-IL-21-Modified B Cell Line
Published on: February 8, 2022
Empowering Natural Killer Cells to Combat Acute Myeloid Leukemia: Perspective on CAR-NK Cell Therapy
Fenja Gierschek1,2, Juliane Schlueter3, Ines Kühnel4
1Department of Pediatrics, Experimental Immunology and Cell Therapy, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
Background:
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive hematologic malignancy with a high relapse rate and still limited therapeutic options. Natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapy has the potential to improve outcomes for patients with AML.
Summary:
Recent preclinical studies and early-stage clinical trials aim to enhance the intrinsic anti-leukemic properties of NK cells by selectively targeting AML cells with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). Furthermore, NK and CAR-NK cells can be combined with other therapeutic modalities or engineered further to overcome the immunosuppressive microenvironment, and treatment resistance of AML blasts and leukemia-initiating cells (LIC).
Key Messages:
In this review, we summarize preclinical studies with cytokine-stimulated or genetically engineered NK cells derived from different cell sources for the treatment of AML and their translation into early-phase clinical trials. We also provide an overview of promising recent developments toward innovative NK cell-based therapies that may be implemented in the near future.
