Takeda and MD Anderson Cancer Center partner to develop natural killer cell anti-cancer therapy

Unlike CAR-T cell therapy, which genetically engineered patients' own T-cells, CAR-NK cell therapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center isolates natural killer cells (natural killer cells, NK) from cord blood and inserts a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD19 on the surface of their cells to enhance the effectiveness of attacks on specific tumorsCD19 is a cell surface antigen specifically expressed in the various stages of differentiation of B lymphocytesThe therapy also added leukocyte interleukin 15 (IL-15) to C cell therapy to enhance the proliferation and survival of CAR-NK cells in the bodycat-T cell therapy is now facing a major drawback that it usually takes weeks to complete genetic engineering, and CAR-NK therapy is expected to solve this problemNK cells isolated and modified from cord blood of non-related donors are easy to store in case patients need it from time to time, potentially providing treatment facilities for outpatientsIn addition, patients treated with CAR-T therapy develop cytokine release syndrome (CRS), but NK cells do not secrete inflammatory factors that cause CRS, avoiding similar toxic reactionspreclinical studies have shown that natural killer cells derived from donated umbilical cord tissue can be engineered to eliminate certain types of leukemia and lymphoma cellsCurrently, MD Anderson Cancer Center is validating CAR-NK therapy targeting CD19 in phase 1/2a clinical studies for the treatment of patients with recurrent/difficult B-cell malignanciesimage source: 123RFUnder the terms of the agreement, Takeda will receive the right to use the mD Anderson Cancer Center's proprietary CAR-NK platform and will be responsible for the development, manufacture and commercial development of this cooperative development product, including CAR-NK cell therapy for targeting CD19 and B-cell mature antigen (BCMA)MD Anderson Cancer Center will receive the appropriate advance payment and potential milestone payments, as well as a share of future sales for the drug developed in this collaboration"We hope to optimize existing therapies by developing CAR-NK cell therapies available to outpatients so that more patients can be treated with effective, rapid and minimal toxicity," said DrKaty Rezvani, Professor of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center"
" MD Anderson Cancer Center's CAR-NK platform represents the therapeutic potential of a new generation of cell therapy," said DrAndy Plump, President of Research and Development at TakedaReferences: 1, Takeda and MD Anderson Syd Syd Cos to The Accelerate Development of Clinical-Stage, Off-The-TheShelf CAR NK-Cell Therapy Platform, Retrieved 5, 2019, https://