Modified natural killer cell lines and methods of use

Abstract

This invention relates to a natural killer cell line termed NK-92. The invention provides a vector for transfecting a mammalian cell which includes a nucleic acid sequence encoding a cytokine that promotes the growth of NK-92. Additionally, the invention provides an NK-92 cell, or an NK-92 cell modified by transfection with a vector conferring advantageous properties, which is unable to proliferate and which preserves effective cytotoxic activity. The invention further provides a modified NK-92 cell that is transfected with a vector encoding a cytokine that promotes the growth of NK-92 cells. The cell secretes the cytokine upon being cultured under conditions that promote cytokine secretion, and furthermore secretes the cytokine in vivo upon being introduced into a mammal. In a significant embodiment, the cytokine is interleukin 2. The present invention also provides methods of purging cancer cells from a biological sample, of treating a cancer ex vivo in a mammal, and of treating a cancer in vivo in a mammal employing a natural killer cell, such as NK-92 itself, an NK-92 cell which is unable to proliferate and which preserves effective cytotoxic activity, or natural killer cells transfected with a vector encoding a cytokine.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.