{"entity":{"id":"nk-cell-engagers","kind":"technology","name":"NK cell engagers","aka":[],"tldr":"Bispecific or trispecific antibodies that hold a natural killer cell against a tumour cell and switch it on, an alternative to T-cell engagers with potentially milder side effects.","summary":"Natural killer (NK) cell engagers bind an activating receptor on NK cells (CD16, NKG2D or NKp46) and a tumour antigen, often with an added interleukin-15 domain to sustain the cells. Programmes from Innate Pharma, Affimed and others are in early trials in lymphoma, leukaemia and solid tumours. Because NK cells release fewer inflammatory cytokines than T cells, the format promises less cytokine release syndrome, though clinical proof is limited.","status":"phase-1","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_killer_cell","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_killer_cell"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["immunotherapy"],"technologies":["t-cell-engager","bispecific-antibody"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Multispecific antibody scaffolds crosslink NK activating receptors with a tumour antigen, triggering degranulation and cytokine release against the bound target cell.","strengths":["Innate cells kill without antigen presentation","Potentially lower cytokine release than T-cell engagers","Off-the-shelf biologic"],"limitations":["Early clinical stage","NK cells are scarce and short-lived in tumours"]},"route":"/technologies/nk-cell-engagers/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"immunotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Immunotherapy","route":"/fronts/immunotherapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"bispecific-antibody","kind":"technology","name":"Bispecific antibodies","route":"/technologies/bispecific-antibody/"},{"id":"t-cell-engager","kind":"technology","name":"T-cell engagers (bispecific)","route":"/technologies/t-cell-engager/"}]}}