Phase I study of cord blood-derived natural killer cells combined with autologous stem cell transplantation in multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a disease with known immune dysregulation. Natural killer (NK) cells have shown preclinical activity in MM. We conducted a first-in-human study of umbilical cord blood-derived (CB) NK cells for MM patients undergoing high dose chemotherapy and autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HCT). Patients received lenalidomide (10 mg) on days −8 to −2, melphalan 200 mg/m² on day −7, CB-NK cells on day −5 and auto-HCT on day 0. Twelve patients were enrolled, three on each of four CB-NK cell dose levels: 5 × 10⁶, 1 × 10⁷, 5 × 10⁷ and 1 × 10⁸ CB-NK cells/kg. Ten patients had either high-risk chromosomal changes or a history of relapsed/progressed disease. There were no infusional toxicities and no graft-versus-host disease. One patient failed to engraft due to poor autologous graft quality and was rescued with a back-up autologous graft. Overall, 10 patients achieved at least a very good partial response as their best response, including eight with near complete response or better. With a median follow-up of 21 months, four patients have progressed or relapsed, two of whom have died. CB-NK cells were detected in vivo in six patients, with an activated phenotype (NKG2D⁺/NKp30⁺). These data warrant further development of this novel cellular therapy.