Scientists have recently developed a powerful new approach to fighting cancer using specially engineered immune cells called CAR-NK (natural killer) cells. These cells function much like CAR-T cells, which can be customized to seek out and destroy cancer, but rely on a different type of immune cell as their foundation.

Researchers at MIT and Harvard Medical School have now designed an improved version of CAR-NK cells that are far less likely to be attacked by a patient’s own immune system, a major obstacle in current cell-based therapies.

This breakthrough could also open the door to “off-the-shelf” CAR-NK treatments that doctors can administer immediately after diagnosis, eliminating the long preparation period required for most personalized cancer immunotherapies. Conventional CAR-NK and CAR-T cell production often takes several weeks.

Safer, Stronger Cancer Killers
“This enables us to do one-step engineering of CAR-NK cells that can avoid rejection by host T cells and other immune cells. And, they kill cancer cells better and they’re safer,” says Jianzhu Chen, an MIT professor of biology, a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and one of the senior authors of the study.

When tested in mice with human-like immune systems, the newly engineered cells successfully eliminated most cancer cells while avoiding detection and destruction by the host immune system.