N. Engl. J. Med. 382, 545–553 (2020)

Natural killer (NK) cells can be engineered to target leukemias specifically with limited toxicity.

T cells engineered to target cancers that express CD19 (CAR-T cells) are a recently developed successful therapy for a number of hematological cancers. However, they are somewhat challenging to manufacture, as they must be personalized and can be extremely toxic. NK cells are components of the immune system that are in development for anti-cancer therapy and have the advantage of being easier to manufacture than are T cells.

In a clinical trial, 11 patients with CD19+ cancer were treated with CAR-NK cells. The large majority responded to the treatment without toxic effects.