Alternatively, when a patient's own bone marrow is used for transplantation, NK-92 treatment of the isolated marrow would be used to purge the marrow of any malignant cells prior to returning it to the patient. We currently have proposals under review for clinical trials of NK-92 cell treatments. We are presently modifying the NK-92 cell line to make it even more effective. In this way, all cells carrying this so-called suicide gene can be eliminated by administration of a drug that would kill them. We are also investigating the possibility of modifying the expression of specific surface proteins on NK-92 cells.
Many therapies require several rounds of treatment to be effective.
Multiple rounds would not be possible if a patient developed an immune response against the NK-92 cells. To avoid this problem, we will develop ways to prevent expression of these proteins on the surface of NK-92 cells, which are important for immune recognition and attack. If this approach is successful, it may be possible to administer the NK cells repeatedly without inducing an immune response against the cells. The second project is the use of dendritic cells as tumor-specific immunotherapeutic agents against a number of malignancies, including myeloma and myelodysplasia. Dendritic cells are vital in inducing activation and proliferation of T-lymphocytes, which are able to recognize and attack cancer cells.