CD133-Targeted Natural Killer Cell Therapy for Aggressive Prostate Cancer

ABSTRACT

The goal of this project is to develop a novel chimeric antigen receptor natural killer cell (CAR NK cell) therapy for the treatment of highly aggressive androgen receptor negative prostate cancer by targeting the cell surface antigen CD133. The CAR NK cells were going to be made from primary NK cells isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy donors using adeno associated virus (AAV) and CRISPR/cas9. The objective was to create these CAR NK cells and then subsequently test them using in vitro and in vivo models of highly aggressive prostate cancer. Thus far we have encountered much difficulty manipulating the primary NK cells to successfully express CARs. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, little progress has been made on this project thus far.