Immunotherapy based on natural killer (NK) cells is showing promise in early trials involving patients with lymphoma, researchers have reported.
The CAR-NK immunotherapy, called FT596, is easier to manufacture than CAR-T treatment, as it generated from a single induced pluripotent stem cell line, instead of from the patients’ own cells.
The CAR-NK therapy is also able to target disease in two different ways, which the researchers say will reduce the chances of tumour resistance to the therapy.
The treatment has been tested in a phase 1 trial involving 86 patients with B-cell lymphoma, being treated at nine centres in the USA. 18 patients received CAR-NK cells on their own, while the remainder received the treatment in combination with rituximab.
The study found that patients tolerated high doses of treatment, but ten patients suffered low-grade cytokine release syndrome. There was no neurotoxicity, the researchers have reported in The Lancet.
The researchers found that 85% of patients with follicular lymphoma experienced a complete response to the treatment – and this lasted on average nearly 17 months.
What’s more, among 20 patients with disease that had relapsed or progressed after CAR-T cell therapy, 30% of these achieved complete remission, according to the report.
Study leader Professor Armin Ghobadi, from Washington University School of Medicine, said: “In patients with follicular lymphoma, FT596 has shown comparable efficacy to the three FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapies, but with significantly reduced toxicity.
“For patients with large B-cell lymphoma who undergo FDA-approved CAR-T cell therapy, approximately 60% experience a relapse. These patients have very limited treatment options, and most survive only a few months. This study demonstrates that nearly half of these patients could achieve another complete or partial remission with FT596, representing a significant improvement.”
Source:
Ghobadi A, Bachanova V, Patel K, Park JH, Flinn I, Riedell PA, Bachier C, Diefenbach CS, Wong C, Bickers C, Wong L, Patel D, Goodridge J, Denholt M, Valamehr B, Elstrom RL, Strati P. (2025) “Induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cells in B-cell lymphoma: a phase 1, first-in-human trial.” Lancet, 9 January 2025, doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02462-0.
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02462-0/abstract
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