Intraperitoneal delivery of human natural killer cells for treatment of ovarian cancer

Objective: Dramatic clinical antitumor effects have been observed with interleukin (IL)-2 activated natural killer (NK) cells. However, to date intravenous (IV) delivery of NK cells in ovarian cancer patients has not been successful in ameliorating disease. We investigated in vivo expansion and persistence of intraperitoneally (IP) delivered NK cells in an ovarian cancer xenograft model to determine if delivery mode can affect tumor cell killing and circumvent lack of NK cell expansion.