A recently completed Phase I/IIa trial looking at a new treatment option for patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia showed positive results without significant issues with toxicity. 

Patients involved in the trial were treated with cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell therapy, which targeted CD19, according to a release from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The results of the trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that of the 11 patients enrolled, eight responded to the therapy, with seven achieving complete response. 

“We are encouraged by the results of the clinical trial, which will launch further clinical studies to investigate allogenic cord blood-derived CAR NK cells as a potential treatment option for patients in need,” said Katy Rezvani, MD, PHD, a corresponding author and professor of Stem Cell Transplantation & Cellular Therapy. 

Patients who achieved complete response showed no evidence of the disease at a median follow-up of 13.8 months. Five patients were administered post-remission therapy. The authors noted that response to the therapy was evident “within one month following infusion, and persistence of these cells was confirmed out to one year post-infusion.” 

The release from MD Anderson noted that the CAR NK cells are taken from a non-related healthy donor, which means they have the potential to be “manufactured in advance and stored for off-the-shelf immediate use.” This is a considerable difference from other CAR T cells, which come from a patient’s own cells, and are created through a “multi-week manufacturing process,” the statement continues. 

While there were some side effects experienced by participants, they were attributed mainly to conditioning chemotherapy before the infusion and resolved within a matter of weeks. 

“Due to the nature of the therapy, we’ve actually been able to administer it in an outpatient setting,” said Rezvani. 

She added that with the completion of this trial, the team is looking forward to conducting more extensive trials involving more locations in conjunction with a manufacturer to whom MD Anderson has licensed the CAR NK platform.