On December 3, 2018 NantKwest Inc. (Nasdaq:NK), a pioneering, next generation, clinical-stage immunotherapy company focused on harnessing the unique power of our immune system using natural killer (NK) cells to treat cancer, infectious diseases and inflammatory diseases, reported an abstract/poster presentations will be given at the upcoming 60th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) (Free ASH Whitepaper) in San Diego, CA, which runs from December 1-4, 2018 (Press release, NantKwest, DEC 3, 2018, https://ir.nantkwest.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nantkwest-present-updated-preclinical-data-60th-annual-meeting [SID1234531832]).
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Presentation Title: Providing a Homing Receptor for CAR Engineered NK Cells – Improving Cellular Immunotherapy for B-Cell Lymphoma
Abstract: #4547
Presenter:Nathan Thomas Schomer, Laurent Boissel, Karen Jiang, Hans Klingemann, John Lee, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, NantKwest, Inc., Culver City, CA
Date:Monday, December 3, 2018, 6:00-8:00pm
Location:San Diego Convention Center, Hall GH
Presentation Highlights
NantKwest’s proprietary natural killer (NK) therapy is based on an activated natural killer cell platform (aNK) derived from a novel cell line with potent cytotoxicity. With over 400 doses safely administered to over 80 patients across multiple Phase I/II clinical trials, NantKwest’s off-the-shelf therapies have demonstrated encouraging clinical responses across a broad range of cancer cell types.
The company’s haNK cells, currently in multiple human clinical trials, have been engineered to carry a high-affinity version of the CD16/FcγRIII receptor that binds to the Fc portion of a monoclonal antibody to enhance the cancer cell killing effect when used in combination with haNK cell therapy.
As part of our next-generation NK cell therapy program, we further enhanced the potential targeting and homing efficiency of haNK cell therapy by incorporating both a CD19-targeting CAR, together with the chemokine-homing receptor, C-C Chemokine Receptor Type 7 (CCR7), which targets both Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand CCL19 (CCL19) and Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 21 (CCL21), key signaling molecules expressed in lymph nodes to guide homing to these tissues. This tri-targeting NK cell therapy is designed to maximize NK cell activity by increasing NK cell migration to tumor sites and enhance cancer cell killing activity through both CD19-targeted, CAR-mediated killing, together with antibody mediated killing when combined with monoclonal clonal antibodies such as Rituximab.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, Chairman and CEO of NantKwest commented, "We look forward to reporting preclinical data on this novel tri-specific, off-the-shelf, homing CD19.t-haNK cell therapy. By engineering a novel chemokine-based CAR, into our off-the-shelf NK cell platform, we show that we can increase NK cell migration to target cancer cells and this enhanced homing can potentially maximize NK cell-driven immunogenic cell death. Representing what we believe will be an attractive treatment option, we are now focused on transitioning this next-generation NK cell therapy program to human clinical trials as rapidly as possible."