Efficiently targeting neuroblastoma with the combination of anti-ROR1 CAR NK cells and N-803 in vitro and in vivo in NB xenografts

Abstract

The prognosis for children with recurrent and/or refractory neuroblastoma (NB) is a dismal. The receptor tyrosine kinase like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1), which is highly expressed on the surface of NB cells, provides a potential target for novel immunotherapeutics. Anti-ROR1 CAR engineered ex vivo expanded peripheral blood natural killer (Anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK) cells represent this approach. N-803 is an IL15 superagonist with enhanced biological activity. In this study, we investigated the in-vitro and in-vivo anti-tumor effects of anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK cells with or without N-803 against ROR1+ NB models. Compared to mock exPBNK cells, anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK cells had significantly enhanced cytotoxicity against ROR1+ NB cells, and N-803 further increased cytotoxicity. High dimensional analysis revealed that N-803 enhanced Stat5 phosphorylation and Ki67 levels in both exPBNK and anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK cells with or without NB cells. In-vivo, anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK plus N-803 significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced survival in human ROR1+ NB xenografted NSG mice compared to anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK alone. Our results provide the rationale for further development of anti-ROR1 CAR exPBNK cells plus N-803 as a novel combination immunotherapeutic for patients with recurrent and/or refractory ROR1+ NB.