The results discussed in the News and Views article "The innate power of natural killer cells in cancer therapy", were orginally published in Nature Medicine in April by Katy Rezvani's group at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Texas, US, where the authors presents the groundbreaking results from a clinical trial using NK cells combined with NK cell-specific engagers to treat patients with refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.
The innovative approach described in this paper involved cord blood-derived NK cells pre-complexed with the bispecific engager AFM13, resulting in impressive response rates—particularly notable was the complete response in patients who previously did not respond to CAR T cell therapies.
This trial underscores the powerful therapeutic potential of NK cell-based immunotherapy, providing efficacy comparable to CAR T therapies but with significantly fewer toxicities.
PRIMA continues to explore and advance similar strategies, combining NK cells with tumor-specific engagers and cytokine stimulation to enhance cancer therapies and address critical challenges like persistence and tumor targeting.
News & Views article : Sohlberg, E., Malmberg, KJ. The innate power of natural killer cells in cancer therapy. Nat Med (2025).
Original paper : Nieto, Y., Banerjee, P., Kaur, I. et al. Allogeneic NK cells with a bispecific innate cell engager in refractory relapsed lymphoma: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med (2025).