The licenses cover patents held by CytoImmune and are related to ways of generating NK cells and compositions of chimeric receptors for targeting NK cells to tumors, according to CytoImmune and City of Hope. The agreements include a prostate stem cell antigen CAR to treat pancreatic, gastric, bladder, prostate, and some lung cancers; a programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)+ NK cell for treating lung cancer; and FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) CAR-NK cell therapy for treating acute myeloid leukemia, they said.

CytoImmune's licenses are based on research conducted by co-founders Jianhua Yu, PhD, and Dr. Michael Caligiuri; Yu is also a professor in the City of Hope Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, and Caligiuri is president of the City of Hope National Medical Center.

City of Hope has treated more than 600 patients since its CAR T research started in the late 1990s, according to CytoImmune and City of Hope.