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Immunotherapies against cancer rely on the functionality of effector cells against a variety of tumors. Effector cells, including CD4, CD8 T-Cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells, recognize tumors by direct contact. Upon tumor recognition, effector cells kill tumor cells. However, the tumor cell can also escape the effector cell-mediated killing.

This webcast will describe research to develop and validate a cord blood NK cell therapeutic against Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas, using imaging flow cytometry (IFC) to learn what happens when an effector cell forms a conjugate with a tumor cell.

To improve NK cell targeting of CD30 positive lymphomas, cytokine-activated cord blood derived-NK cells (CB-NK) were labeled with an anti-CD30 and anti-CD16 bispecific antibody known as AFM13 (Affimed), and retention of the AFM13 antibody on CB-NK cells was measured using the ImageStream®x MKII. This data established that AFM13 could bind the CD16 on CB-NK cells and CD30 on the tumor at the same time to form a stable conjugate, that AFM13 is retained on the surface of CB-NK cells for up to 3 days, and that during this time these cells can recognize and activate to kill the tumor in both in vitro and in vivo mouse models of cancer. This therapeutic is now being tested in a clinical trial (NCT04074746).

You will learn:

• Advantages of using cord blood NK cells in targeting tumours
• Defining the function of NK cells using Imaging Flow Cytometry
• How quantitative imaging assists in studying cell to cell interactions