A Phase 1 Trial of CNDO-109–Activated Natural Killer Cells in Patients with High-Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia

  • Todd A. Fehniger
  • , Jeffrey S. Miller
  • , Robert K. Stuart
  • , Sarah Cooley
  • , Amandeep Salhotra
  • , Julie Curtsinger
  • , Peter Westervelt
  • , John F. DiPersio
  • , Timothy M. Hillman
  • , Nova Silver
  • , Michael Szarek
  • , Leonid Gorelik
  • , Mark W. Lowdell
  • , Eric Rowinsky

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells are an emerging immunotherapy approach to acute myeloid leukemia (AML); however, the optimal approach to activate NK cells before adoptive transfer remains unclear. Human NK cells that are primed with the CTV-1 leukemia cell line lysate CNDO-109 exhibit enhanced cytotoxicity against NK cell–resistant cell lines. To translate this finding to the clinic, CNDO-109–activated NK cells (CNDO-109-NK cells) isolated from related HLA-haploidentical donors were evaluated in a phase 1 dose-escalation trial at doses of 3 × 105 (n = 3), 1 × 106 (n = 3), and 3 × 106 (n = 6) cells/kg in patients with AML in first complete remission (CR1) at high risk for recurrence. Before CNDO-109-NK cell administration, patients were treated with lymphodepleting fludarabine/cyclophosphamide. CNDO-109-NK cells were well tolerated, and no dose-limiting toxicities were observed at the highest tested dose. The median relapse-free survival (RFS) by dose level was 105 (3 × 105), 156 (1 × 106), and 337 (3 × 106) days. Two patients remained relapse-free in post-trial follow-up, with RFS durations exceeding 42.5 months. Donor NK cell microchimerism was detected on day 7 in 10 of 12 patients, with 3 patients having evidence of donor cells on day 14 or later. This trial establishes that CNDO-109-NK cells generated from related HLA haploidentical donors, cryopreserved, and then safely administered to AML patients with transient persistence without exogenous cytokine support. Three durable complete remissions of 32.6 to 47.6+ months were observed, suggesting additional clinical investigation of CNDO-109-NK cells for patients with myeloid malignancies, alone or in combination with additional immunotherapy strategies, is warranted.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1581-1589
Number of pages9
JournalBiology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Volume24
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Keywords

  • Acute myeloid leukemia
  • CNDO-109–activated natural killer cells

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Phase 1 Trial of CNDO-109–Activated Natural Killer Cells in Patients with High-Risk Acute Myeloid Leukemia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this