HemaCare Blog The University of Minnesota Investigates Using NK Cells to Fight Covid-19

Researchers at the University of Minnesota expand to clinical trials with natural killer cells against the novel coronavirus. Natural killer (NK) cells are part of the innate immune system and function to recognize and disable virus-infected and tumor cells. NK cell-based immunotherapy is increasingly studied as a viable approach to treat solid tumors and hematological cancers. A collaboration between the University of Minnesota and Fate Therapeutics began clinical trials for a novel “off-the-shelf” targeted NK-cell based cancer immunotherapy (FT516) that uses induced pluripotent stem cells, adult stem cells reprogrammed to have the capacity to differentiate into any cell type.