Allogenic Memory-Like Natural Killer Cell Therapy

Adoptive cell therapy has witnessed significant progress with the success of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells for treating cancer. However, their autologous nature limits scalability, and increases production time and manufacturing costs. Additionally, CAR-T cell administration can result in severe toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity. To address these issues, allogeneic, natural killer (NK) cells are being explored as an alternative. NK cells are cytotoxic lymphocytes that play a pivotal role in tumor surveillance and eradication. Unlike T cells, NK cells can identify and eliminate targets without MHC restriction or prior sensitization. Furthermore, NK cells exhibit enhanced responses after exposure to virus infections or cytokine activation (cytokine induced memory-like). Allogeneic NK cell therapies offer a promising alternative to autologous cell therapies, with reduced risk of graft-versus-host disease and rapid availability. This review summarizes the current landscape of allogeneic memory-like NK cell therapies, including clinical applications and challenges.