Clinical development of natural killer cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors

Abstract

Both natural killer (NK) cells and T cells demonstrate potent antitumor responses in many settings. NK cells, unlike T cells, are not the primary mediators of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Redirection of T cells with chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) has helped to overcome tumor escape from endogenous T cells. NK cells expressing CARs are a promising new therapy to treat malignancy. Clinical biomanufacturing of CAR NK cells can begin with NK cells derived from many different sources including adult peripheral blood-derived NK cells, cord blood-derived NK cells, cell line-derived NK cells, or stem cell-derived NK cells. Manufacturing protocols may include isolation of NK cells, activation, expansion, and genetic modification to express the chimeric antigen receptors. Clinical trials have tested both unmodified and CAR NK cells with encouraging results. The next stage in clinical development of CAR NK cells represents a highly exciting new frontier in clinical cell therapy as well as understanding basic NK cell biology. The purpose of this review is to provide the reader with a fundamental understanding of the core concepts in CAR NK cell manufacturing, specifically highlighting differences between CAR T cell manufacturing and focusing on future directions in the field.