# NK cell therapy and CAR-NK

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/nk-cell-therapy/  
OnCo record `nk-cell-therapy` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Infusions of natural killer cells from donors or cord blood, sometimes fitted with a CAR, offering an off-the-shelf alternative to CAR-T with less cytokine release.

## Summary

Natural killer cells kill cancer cells without prior sensitisation and do not cause graft-versus-host disease, so donor-derived, cord-blood or iPSC-derived NK products can be made off the shelf. CAR-NK cells against CD19 produced responses in lymphoma in early trials with little cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity, and cytokine-induced memory-like NK cells are tested in leukaemia. Limited persistence and expansion in patients remain the central problems.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: phase-2
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Principle: NK cells from a donor, cord blood or a pluripotent stem cell line are expanded, optionally engineered with a CAR and interleukin-15, and infused after lymphodepletion.
- Strengths: Off-the-shelf manufacturing; Low rates of cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity; No graft-versus-host disease
- Limitations: Poor in vivo persistence; Repeated dosing often needed; No approval yet

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_killer_cell
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_killer_cell

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/), [Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/dlbcl/)
- fronts: [Cell Therapy](https://onco.cc/fronts/cell-therapy/)
- technologies: [Allogeneic (off-the-shelf) cell therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/allogeneic-cell-therapy/), [CAR-NK & CAR-macrophage](https://onco.cc/technologies/car-nk-macrophage/), [CAR-T cell therapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/car-t/), [Cell-therapy release and potency testing](https://onco.cc/technologies/cell-therapy-release-testing/), [Cryopreservation and cell-therapy cold chain](https://onco.cc/technologies/cell-therapy-cold-chain/)

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