The Bio Report Podcast: Turning Natural Killers into Off-the-Shelf Therapies for Autoimmune Disease
NK cells, part of the innate immune system, serve as the body’s first line of defense. These cells can recognize and kill abnormal or infected cells. As therapies, they have the advantage over CAR-T and other cell therapies because they can be used off-the-shelf without undergoing gene editing or other genetic modifications. They also don’t trigger cytokine storms, a common reaction to CAR-T therapies that can cause a systemic inflammatory response that can range from flu-like symptoms to life-threatening complications. The greater safety and lower costs of these NK cell therapies open the door to broader uses beyond cancer to include autoimmune diseases.
In this podcast with The Bio Report, Fred Aslan, President and CEO of Artiva Biotherapeutics, talks about the company’s off-the-shelf NK cell therapies, the case for pairing them with monoclonal antibodies, and how they can broaden the uses for cell therapies.