XNK Therapeutics AB (XNK), a clinical stage immunotherapy company, announced that the company has entered into a research collaboration with the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, to evaluate the suitability of the company’s autologous natural killer (NK) cell therapy candidate XNK02 as a novel therapy for treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
In collaboration with Karolinska University Hospital, XNK will perform a large-scale bioreactor culture study of AML patients’ immune cells. These cells will be activated and expanded using XNK’s proprietary technology. The study aims to further investigate the expansion procedure (NK cell growth) and to study the properties of the expanded NK cells with respect to their ability to kill the patient’s own tumour cells ex vivo.
“We look forward to conducting this important study together with the group of Dr Martin Jädersten, Medical lead for AML at the Karolinska University Hospital. The study will evaluate our product candidate XNK02 as a novel therapy for patients with AML, for which new treatment modalities are desperately needed,” said Dr Tim D’Alessandri, senior scientist and project leader at XNK.
The research collaboration complements the current collaboration with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to study XNK02 in AML patient material from various stages of the disease.
AML is the most common form of acute leukaemia in adults. Globally, close to 200,000 new patients are diagnosed and about 150,000 will die from AML each year. In AML, the bone marrow produces a large number of abnormal immature blood cells, so called blasts, that can overcrowd the bone marrow and interfere with the production of healthy mature blood cells. This results in for example infections and anaemia. The blasts can also spread to other parts of the body, including the central nervous system.
Current treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, stem cell transplantation and targeted therapy such as kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. The overall outcome for patients remains poor, relapse is common and 5-year survival rates are around 30%.
XNK Therapeutics is a clinical stage immunotherapy company focused on bringing new and more effective treatments to cancer patients. The company is at the forefront of autologous NK cell-based cell therapy development with a proprietary technology platform and a pipeline spanning both haematological malignancies and solid tumour indications.
