Immunotherapy of Neuroblastoma Patients Using a Combination of Anti-GD2 and NK Cells

Summary

Neuroblastoma is a neoplasm of the sympathetic nervous system which affects mostly children younger than 5 years of age. It is a heterogeneous disease, with nearly 50% of patients presenting with a high-risk phenotype. After standard treatment, the 2-year event-free survival (EFS) for high risk neuroblastoma (EFS) is only about 50%. Immunotherapy with anti-GD2 antibodies has been shown to improve EFS in Children's Oncology Group and SIOPEN trials. The anti-GD2 antibody mediates neuroblastoma cell killing primarily through antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Natural killer (NK) cells are the main effectors of ADCC. We postulate that infusion of expanded activated NK cells from healthy haploidentical donors along with anti-GD2 antibody will enhance neuroblastoma killing.

Timeline

Start

2017-10-03

Primary completion

2019-08-15

Completion

2020-08-15

Publications

• Background Yu AL, Gilman AL, Ozkaynak MF, London WB, Kreissman SG, Chen HX, Smith M, Anderson B, Villablanca JG, Matthay KK, Shimada H, Grupp SA, Seeger R, Reynolds CP, Buxton A, Reisfeld RA, Gillies SD, Cohn SL, Maris JM, Sondel PM; Children's Oncology Group. Anti-GD2 antibody with GM-CSF, interleukin-2, and isotretinoin for neuroblastoma. N Engl J Med. 2010 Sep 30;363(14):1324-34. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0911123.
• Background Cho D, Shook DR, Shimasaki N, Chang YH, Fujisaki H, Campana D. Cytotoxicity of activated natural killer cells against pediatric solid tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2010 Aug 1;16(15):3901-9. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-0735. Epub 2010 Jun 11.
• Background Tarek N, Le Luduec JB, Gallagher MM, Zheng J, Venstrom JM, Chamberlain E, Modak S, Heller G, Dupont B, Cheung NK, Hsu KC. Unlicensed NK cells target neuroblastoma following anti-GD2 antibody treatment. J Clin Invest. 2012 Sep;122(9):3260-70. doi: 10.1172/JCI62749. Epub 2012 Aug 6.

Drugs

Indications