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Nkarta Presents New Preclinical Data from Engineered NK Cell Platform at SITC 36th Annual Meeting
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Nov. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nkarta, Inc. (Nasdaq: NKTX), a biopharmaceutical company developing engineered natural killer
About this update from Nkarta, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Nov. 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nkarta, Inc. (Nasdaq: NKTX), a biopharmaceutical company developing engineered natural killer (NK) cell therapies to treat cancer, today announced the presentation of four preclinical data abstracts focused on its natural killer cell platform and pipeline at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 36th Annual Meeting and Pre-Conference Programs. \"The data we presented at this year's SITC meeting showcase the rapid and continuous advancement of our NK cell platform and its potential to deliver pioneering off-the-shelf cell therapies,” noted James Trager, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Nkarta. “Nkarta’s ongoing research activities are designed to heighten the innate ability of NK cells to identify and kill tumor cells and to further build on our efficient and robust manufacturing process. Our findings reported at SITC support further exploration of CISH gene-knockout CD70 CAR NK cells for clinical application, one focus of our ongoing collaboration with our partners at CRISPR Therapeutics.” Details of the preclinical poster presentations at SITC follow. Each poster will be available for download shortly after the presentation at https://www.nkartatx.com/publications/ Title: A Combined Strategy of CD70 CAR Co-expression with Membrane-bound IL-15 and CISH Knockout Results in Enhanced NK Cytotoxicity and Persistence*Abstract Number and Type: 16439, oralPoster Presentation Date and Time: November 10, 2021, 2:40 p.m. ETThis study illustrates multiple approaches to modify NK cells to target CD70, an antigen highly expressed in hematological malignancies and solid tumors, including renal cell carcinoma. Optimal CD70 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) candidates were identified using high throughput screening approaches. Preclinical results showed that a combined editing and engineering strategy to armor primary NK cells via co-expression of the CD70 CAR and a membrane bound form of IL-15 (mbIL-15), together with knockout of CISH and CD70 genes using the CRISPR/Cas9 system enhanced the persistence in culture and the cytotoxicity of the cells against multiple tumor cell lines. The knockout of CISH also supported the resistance of primary NK cells to suppressive elements active in the tumor microenvironment. Title: CISH Gene-knockout Anti-CD70-CAR NK Cells Demonstrate Pot...