Umbilical cord blood CD34+ progenitor-derived NK cells efficiently kill ovarian cancer spheroids and intraperitoneal tumors in NOD/SCID/IL2Rgnull mice

Adoptive transfer of allogeneic natural killer (NK) cells is an attractive therapy approach against ovarian carcinoma. Here, we evaluated the potency of highly active NK cells derived from human CD34+ haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) to infiltrate and mediate killing of human ovarian cancer spheroids using an in vivo-like model system and mouse xenograft model. These CD56+Perforin+HSPC-NK cells were generated under stroma-free conditions in the presence of StemRegenin-1, IL-15, and IL-12, and exerted efficient cytolytic activity and IFN gamma production toward ovarian cancer monolayer cultures. Live-imaging confocal microscopy demonstrated that these HSPC-NK cells actively migrate, infiltrate, and mediate tumor cell killing in a three-dimensional multicellular ovarian cancer spheroid. Infiltration of up to 30% of total HSPC-NK cells within 8 h resulted in robust tumor spheroid destruction. Furthermore, intraperitoneal HSPC-NK cell infusions in NOD/SCID-IL2R gamma(null) (NSG) mice bearing ovarian carcinoma significantly reduced tumor progression. These findings demonstrate that highly functional HSPC-NK cells efficiently destruct ovarian carcinoma spheroids in vitro and kill intraperitoneal ovarian tumors in vivo, providing great promise for effective immunotherapy through intraperitoneal HSPC-NK cell adoptive transfer in ovarian carcinoma patients.