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. 2025 Oct 17;17(10):e94807. doi: 10.7759/cureus.94807

Table 3. Leukemic burden after treatment with CAR-NK cells.

The values were digitized and estimated from figures, reported as mean ± SD when available/derivable; otherwise mean (range). NK: natural killer; CAR: chimeric antigen receptor; Ctrl: control; N.R: not reported; n.s: not significant; NT: no CAR transduction; PROD: Prodigy; SS: Small Scale; Tt: Time after treatment; (**) Only top bar reported; (†) Derived from SEM; (") p value taken from dot plot with individual points and mean or median, without error bars (reported as bar graph in the article).

Study Xenograft (cells) Type of transplanted cells Leukemic burden 
Treatment - Control Tt n  Total flux (p/s) Statistical Test p-value
Mean ± SD / (range)
Albinger et al. 2022 [29] OCI-AML2 CD33-CAR-NK (1 dose) 21 7 1.2×108 (1x108 - 2x1010) Median ± Range  N.R
Ctrl: NT-NK 5×1010 (1.7x1010 - 2.4x109)
CD33-CAR-NK (3 doses) 21 7 1.5×108 (1x108 - 4.8x108) Median ± Range  N.R
Ctrl: NT-NK 6 1.8×1010 (1.4x1010 - 2.7x1010)
Albinger et al. 2024 [30] OCI-AML2 CD33-CAR-NK (PROD/ SS) 18 9 8.7x100 (2.3x101) **  Mean±SD N.R
Ctrl 1: CD33-CAR-NK 9 4.6x100 (5.7x101) **  Mean±SD
Ctrl: 2 NT-NK 7 1.1x106 (8.2x108) ** Mean±SD
Caruso et al. 2022 [26] THP-1 CD123-CAR-NK 50 4 5.4×105 (4.8x105 - 2.3x107) Median ± Range N.R
Ctrl 1: CD123-CAR-T 4.4×105 (3.2x105 - 2.2x1010)
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 30 5.5×109 (2.3 - 6.6x109)
Christodoulou et al. 2021 [31] MV-4-11 CD123-2B4.ζ CAR-NK 14 (8-12) 1.9×104 (5.3x103 - 9.4x104) ANOVA <0.01
Ctrl 1: 4-1BB.ζ CARNK 4.3×104 (1.1x104 - 9.5x104)
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 1.2×105 (2.8x104 - 2.4x105) <0.0001
2B4.ζ/sIL-15 CAR-NK 14 (5-7) 5.3×103 (2x103 - 1.2x104) ANOVA N.R
Ctrl 1: 2B4.ζ CARNK 7.1×103 (1x103 - 2.3x104)
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 1.4×105 (5.2x104 - 2.9x105) <0.0001
MOLM-13 2B4.ζ/sIL-15 CAR-NK 14 5 1.3×105 (1.6x104 - 2.8x105) ANOVA <0.0001
Ctrl 1: 2B4.ζ CARNK 5.9×105 (4.3x105 - 8.4x105)
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 7.3×106 (4x106 - 1.6x107) <0.0001
Dong et al. 2022 [27] OCI-AML3 NPM1c-CAR-CIML NK 10 4 2 ± 0.6 x108 ANOVA 0.02
Ctrl: NT-NK 4.3 ± 0.4 x108
NPM1c-CARm15-NK  18 4 5.3 ± 3.4 x108 ANOVA 0.05
Ctrl 1: NPM1c-CAR-NK 11.2 ± 4.8 x108
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 14.6 ± 7.4 x108 0.05
NPM1c-CARm15-NK  18 4 1.3 ± 1.2 x109 ANOVA 0.49
Ctrl 1: NPM1c-CAR-T 1.2 ± 0.6 x109
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 2.8 ± 1.2 x109 0.001
Du et al. 2021 [32] KG1 NKG2D CAR-NK 42 5 1.5×108 (1.4x108 - 1.6x108) Median ± Range  N.R
Ctrl: NT-NK 2.3×108 (1.9x108 - 2.9x108)
NKG2D CAR/IL15-NK (1 dose) 17 6 2.5×103 (1.3x103 - 4.6x103) N.R <0.05 "
NKG2D CAR/IL15-NK (2 doses) 4 2.3×103 (1x103 - 5.4x103)
NKG2D CAR/IL15-NK (3 doses) 4 5.1×103 (2.6x103 - 8.8x103)
Ctrl 1: NKG2D CAR-NK 6 6.7×105 (4.5x104 - 1.6x106)
Ctrl 2: NT-NK 5 2.7×106 (2.4x106 - 3.6x106) <0.0001 "
Mansour et al. 2023 [33] MOLM-13 FLT3 CAR_CD28/CD3ζ 12 3 1.6 ± 0.52 x108 ANOVA N.R
Ctrl1: CAR 2B4/CD3ζ 2.3 ± 0.69 x108
Ctrl2: NT-NK-tCD19  5.3 ± 3.12 x108 <0.01
Morgan et al. 2021 [34] LMA-PDX~ CD123-CAR-hIL15-NK-92 (1 dose) 14 7 39.2 ± 10 %† Unpaired  t-test n.s
Ctrl: NT-NK92  4 32.9 ± 7.4 %†
CD123-CAR-hIL15-NK-92 (2nd dose) 21 7 19.8 ± 12.4 %† Unpaired  t-test 0.05
Ctrl: NT-NK92  4 61.9 ± 11.8 %†
Salman et al. 2019 [35] MOLM-13 CD4-CAR-NK 9 8 3.3 ± 2.8 x106 N.R < .00001
Ctrl: NT-NK 0