iPSCs in NK Cell Manufacturing and NKEV Development

Nicholas Boyd-Gibbins; Peter Karagiannis; Do Won Hwang; Shin-Il Kim

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2022.890894

iPSCs in NK Cell Manufacturing and NKEV Development

Front Immunol. 2022 Jul 8:13:890894. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.890894. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Nicholas Boyd-Gibbins¹, Peter Karagiannis², Do Won Hwang³, Shin-Il Kim^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ THERABEST Japan, Inc., Kobe, Japan.
² Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
³ Research and Development Center, THERABEST Co., Ltd., Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cell immunotherapies for cancer can complement existing T cell therapies while benefiting from advancements already made in the immunotherapy field. For NK cell manufacturing, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer advantages including eliminating donor variation and providing an ideal platform for genome engineering. At the same time, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have become a major research interest, and purified NK cell extracellular vesicles (NKEVs) have been shown to reproduce the key functions of their parent NK cells. NKEVs have the potential to be developed into a standalone therapeutic with reduced complexity and immunogenicity compared to cell therapies. This review explores the role iPSC technology can play in both NK cell manufacturing and NKEV development.

Keywords: cancer; exosomes; extracellular vesicles; genome engineering; immunotherapy; induced pluripotent stem cells; manufacturing; natural killer cells.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Extracellular Vesicles*
Humans
Immunotherapy
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells* / physiology
Killer Cells, Natural
Neoplasms* / therapy