Katy Rezvani, Vice President and Head of Institute for Cell Therapy Discovery and Innovation at MD Anderson Cancer Center, shared on X:
“Delighted to share our latest work, published in Cancer Cell, led by the outstanding Ye Ethan Li.
In this study, we identify a previously unrecognized immature subset of cord blood NK cells that persists throughout manufacturing, drives trogocytosis, and limits CAR NK cell efficacy. We also show that cord blood units enriched for this subset are associated with inferior clinical outcomes, while removing these cells significantly enhances CAR NK cell function and antitumor activity.
These findings provide a practical path towards more consistent and more potent off-the-shelf CAR NK therapies through improved donor selection and product engineering.
Many congratulations to Ethan and all of the co-authors and collaborators who made this work possible!”
Title: Depletion of an immature cord blood NK subset reverses trogocytosis-driven CAR NK dysfunction
Authors: Ye Li, Huihui Fan, Guohui Wang, Xin Wang, Rafet Basar, Maliha Nuzhat Munir, Nadima Uprety, Rejeena Shrestha, Ludovica La Posta, Bin Liu, Jeffrey Wilson, Prashant Menon, Natalie Wall Fowlkes, Patrick Zhang, Enli Liu, Gary M. Deyter, Luis Muniz-Feliciano, Pinaki P. Banerjee, May Daher, David Marin, Eleonora Dondossola, Navin Varadarajan, Elizabeth J. Shpall, Katayoun Rezvani.
Reaf The Full Article.
Donald O’Rourke, Neurosurgeon-Scientist at UPenn. Director at Glioblastoma Translational Center of Excellence, Abramson Cancer Center added on X:
“Wow this is great Katy! Defining the pathway for better Allo NK-CARs! Congrats to your team from Penn Medicine, Penn Cancer.”