CHA Biotech’s patented technology to culture and freeze natural killer (NK) cells has been featured in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research, an international journal providing a quality forum with all oncology works.

In collaboration with a research team led by Professor An Hee-jung of the Department of Pathology at CHA University Bundang Medical Center, the company cultured and cryopreserved NK cells from healthy people’s serum and confirmed anticancer effect in a mouse cancer model.

The research team's genetic analysis showed that the anticancer genes NKp44, CD40L, and CCR5 of cultured NK cells increased about 1,100-fold, 12,000-fold, and 50-fold, respectively.

When administered to the mouse model, the cultured NK cells reduced their tumor size by more than 70 percent or eliminated them, verifying NK cells’  high anticancer effect on cancer cells resistant to oncology therapies.

CHA Biotech produced 99 percent pure NK cells with its original culturing technology and used it in recent research.

Feeder cells that secrete substances necessary for NK cell activity and growth are generally used when culturing NK cells. However, the company reduced the time and cost for culturing NK cells without using feeder cells and prevented possible contamination between different cells that can follow using feeder cells.

CHA Biotech said its mass culture and cryopreservation technology have proven sufficiently competitive for global commercialization by publishing study results in a prestigious international academic journal.

“The excellence of our culturing and cryopreserving technology, essential elements for global commercialization, has been internationally proven through the publication in the prestigious journal,” CHA Biotech CEO Oh Sang-hoon said. “We will focus more on the global advancement of NK cell therapeutics.”