Christine Coughlin, MD, PhD, on TRACK-NK Technology in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

“Monoclonal antibodies combined with the patient's own endogenous response can have efficacy in some tumors. Many patients’ endogenous immune system has been really trampled on by all the chemotherapy that they receive. So, based on some early data that have come out with allogeneic NK cells, we think combining an antibody with an allogeneic NK cell may prove efficacious.”

The 7th Annual CAR-TCR Summit 2022, held September 19-22 in Boston, Massachusetts, brought together industry, academia, and patient advocacy groups to showcase emerging data and technologies in the oncology space, as well as to discuss and brainstorm ongoing challenges and work to be done with cell therapies in the space.

One such company in attendance was Cytoimmune, which is developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK) cell therapies for both solid tumors and acute myeloid leukemia. Its lead program is CYTO NK-102, a therapy developed by use of the company’s TRACK-NK platform that secretes interleukin-15, a CAR, and a bispecific killer engager molecule, for the potential treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

CGTLive spoke with Christine Coughlin, MD, PhD, chief executive officer, Cytoimmune, to learn more about the company’s technologies and programs. She discussed challenges with cell therapies in solid tumors as well as manufacturing challenges and advantages the company’s CAR-NK technology offers in the space.