Definition

A population of off-the-shelf (OTS) donor-derived cytokine-induced, memory-like, cytotoxic natural killer (NK) cells (CIML NKs) containing NK cell-activating surface receptors, with potential immunomodulating and antineoplastic activities. The allogeneic NK cells are pre-activated ex vivo using the human-derived cytokines interleukin (IL)-12, IL-15, and IL-18, which induces the differentiation of the NK cells into CIML NK cells, which contain more NK cell-activating surface receptors. The pretreated NK cells exhibit enhanced activation and increased production of the cytokine interferon-gamma (IFN-g), and may exert enhanced cytotoxicity against tumor cells, including enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Upon administration, the CIML NKs WU-NK-101 may induce an anti-tumor immune response and kill tumor cells.