Biotechnology

NK-92

In vivo

Immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy

Biology

Adoptive cell transfer

Cell therapy

Interleukin 21

Interleukin 12

Innate immune system

Cytotoxic T cell

In vitro

Immunology

Ex vivo

T cell

Stem cell

Innate lymphoid cell

Lymphokine-activated killer cell

Cell biology

Chimeric antigen receptor

Cancer research

Biochemistry

Medicine

Immune system

Frontiers in Immunology

Natural killer cells (NK cells) are the first line of the innate immune defense system, primarily located in peripheral circulation and lymphoid tissues. They kill virally infected and malignant cells through a balancing play of inhibitory and stimulatory receptors. In pre-clinical investigational studies, NK cells show promising anti-tumor effects and are used in adoptive transfer of activated and expanded cells, ex-vivo . NK cells express co-stimulatory molecules that are attractive targets for the immunotherapy of cancers. Recent clinical trials are investigating the use of CAR-NK for different cancers to determine the efficiency. Herein, we review NK cell therapy approaches (NK cell preparation from tissue sources, ways of expansion ex-vivo for “off-the-shelf” allogeneic cell-doses for therapies, and how different vector delivery systems are used to engineer NK cells with CARs) for cancer immunotherapy.

Current Perspectives on “Off-The-Shelf” Allogeneic NK and CAR-NK Cell Therapies