Science
Natural Killer (NK) cells are potent immune effectors defined by their innate ability to identify and eliminate malignant or infected cells with precision. Their cytotoxic function is governed by a finely tuned balance of activating and inhibitory receptors, enabling selective responses to “non-self” or abnormal cells — particularly those exhibiting low or absent MHC Class I/II expression.
NK cells also express CD16, which binds to antibodies to facilitate Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity (ADCC), allowing them to target cells flagged by both natural and therapeutic antibodies. Compared to other cell-based therapies, NK cell therapies offer a superior safety profile, with significantly lower risk of Cytokine Release Syndrome (CRS) and Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD). These inherent advantages make NK cells an ideal platform for scalable, off-the-shelf (allogeneic) therapies — enhancing both accessibility and affordability for patients.
Allogeneic NK platform
At NKure Therapeutics, we have developed an allogeneic NK cell platform designed to deliver scalable, accessible, and cost-effective therapies. Our process utilises NK cells derived from healthy donor PBMCs, expanded and activated within GMP-compliant systems to ensure rigorous quality and consistency. Products are cryopreserved to enable off-the-shelf availability, supporting rapid treatment timelines and broad distribution.
Our NK cell therapies are engineered for versatility, functioning effectively as monotherapies or in combination with monoclonal antibodies to enhance efficacy across a range of indications. To prioritise patient access and reduce systemic healthcare costs, our platform is optimised for outpatient administration. While our primary focus is oncology, we are actively exploring the application of NK cell therapies to autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.
iPSC platform
Our induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform enables the development of GMP-grade, in-house iPSC lines derived from individuals across diverse genetic backgrounds. This diversity supports the selection of optimal genetic profiles tailored to specific therapeutic applications.
Compared to primary cells, iPSCs offer significant advantages: ease of genetic manipulation, efficient clonal selection, and the capacity for complex gene editing. Their unlimited self-renewal provides a scalable and reliable foundation for next-generation cell and gene therapies.
At NKure Therapeutics, we are specifically focused on building iPSC lines representative of diverse Indian genetic backgrounds. We are establishing a master cell bank of GMP-grade, gene-edited iPSC lines to accelerate therapeutic development across oncology, neurological, and autoimmune diseases. Our platform is also being leveraged to generate engineered NK cells tailored to specific indications, enabling the production of scalable, off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies — expanding patient access while reducing cost and improving treatment accessibility.
Editing platform
Our gene editing platform enables the precise engineering of NK cells to overcome the limitations of unmodified cell therapies. Using targeted gene knockouts, we systematically remove the molecular brakes that tumours exploit to evade immune destruction — including TIGIT, CISH, and TGFβR2, which suppress NK cell activation and persistence in the tumour microenvironment. We also target MHC Class I and II molecules to reduce the risk of immune rejection in allogeneic settings.
Beyond knockouts, our platform integrates targeted knock-ins — most notably Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) — to direct engineered NK cells toward specific disease targets with precision. Each modification is modular and interchangeable, allowing NKure to adapt the platform across oncology and infectious disease indications without rebuilding from the ground up. We are building a robust library of gene-edited NK cell constructs that are potent, persistent, and designed for scalable, off-the-shelf therapeutic use.
