The infusion of ex vivo, interleukin-15 and -21-activated donor NK cells after haploidentical HCT in high-risk AML and MDS patients—a randomized trial

Clinical effect of donor-derived natural killer cell infusion (DNKI) after HLA-haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) was evaluated in high-risk myeloid malignancy in phase 2, randomized trial. Seventy-six evaluable patients (aged 21–70 years) were randomized to receive DNKI ( N = 40) or not ( N = 36) after haploidentical HCT. For the HCT conditioning, busulfan, fludarabine, and anti-thymocyte globulin were administered. DNKI was given twice 13 and 20 days after HCT. Four patients in the DNKI group failed to receive DNKI. In the remaining 36 patients, median DNKI doses were 1.0 × 10 8 /kg and 1.4 × 10 8 /kg on days 13 and 20, respectively. Intention-to-treat analysis showed a lower disease progression for the DNKI group (30-month cumulative incidence, 35% vs 61%, P = 0.040; subdistribution hazard ratio, 0.50). Furthermore, at 3 months after HCT, the DNKI patients showed a 1.8- and 2.6-fold higher median absolute blood count of NK and T cells, respectively. scRNA-sequencing analysis in seven study patients showed that there was a marked increase in memory-like NK cells in DNKI patients which, in turn, expanded the CD8 + effector-memory T cells. In high-risk myeloid malignancy, DNKI after haploidentical HCT reduced disease progression. This enhanced graft-vs-leukemia effect may be related to the DNKI-induced, post-HCT expansion of NK and T cells. Clinical trial number: NCT02477787.