A Phase 1/2 interventional study of SK-NK Cell Injection in Ovarian Neoplasms Malignant and Ascites, sponsored by Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to female participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-03-17.
Sponsored by Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Treatment
This is a single-center, open-label, Phase I/II clinical study designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of SK-NK Cell Injection administered via intraperitoneal (IP) perfusion in patients with advanced ovarian cancer complicated by massive ascites .
The study focuses on patients who have failed standard therapies and are suffering from severe ascites. The treatment involves the direct infusion of allogeneic, highly activated Natural Killer (NK) cells (SK-NK) into the abdominal cavity .
The study consists of two phases:
Phase I (Dose Escalation): To determine the safety profile and the Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D) using a "3+3" design with three increasing dose levels.
Phase II (Dose Expansion): To further evaluate the efficacy of the treatment in controlling ascites and suppressing tumor growth at the determined RP2D.
Participants will receive the study treatment once weekly for 4 weeks.
Background and Rationale:
Ovarian cancer often presents with malignant ascites in advanced stages, which is associated with poor prognosis and severely reduced quality of life. The peritoneal cavity in these patients is characterized by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Natural Killer (NK) cells are innate immune effector cells capable of recognizing and killing tumor cells without MHC restriction. "Super Kill-NK" (SK-NK) cells are highly activated allogeneic NK cells derived from healthy donors, characterized by high expression of activation markers (e.g., CD16, NKG2D) and enhanced cytotoxicity. Intraperitoneal delivery allows for direct contact between effector cells and tumor cells within the peritoneal cavity, potentially increasing local therapeutic concentration while minimizing systemic toxicity .
Study Design:
This is an open-label, single-arm, Phase I/II study. Phase I (Dose Escalation): Utilizing a standard "3+3" design to assess safety and identify the Dose-Limiting Toxicity (DLT). Three dose cohorts are planned: 3×10\^8, 6×10\^8, and 9×10\^8 cells per dose. The DLT observation period is 28 days after the first infusion.
Phase II (Dose Expansion): Once the Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D) is determined, additional patients will be enrolled to evaluate efficacy.
Intervention:
Eligible patients will receive SK-NK Cell Injection via intraperitoneal perfusion. The treatment schedule consists of one infusion every week for a total of 4 doses (Days 1, 8, 15, and 22).
Objectives:
Primary: To evaluate safety, tolerability, and determine the RP2D. Secondary: To assess the Ascites Response Rate, Objective Response Rate (ORR), Duration of Relief (DoR), and 1-year Overall Survival (OS). Pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) will also be evaluated by monitoring SK-NK cell persistence and cytokine levels in peripheral blood and ascites .
Exploratory: To investigate the mechanism of action of NK cell therapy in the malignant ascites microenvironment.
247 studies on the registry are indexed under Ascites; 57 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 29 is below the median of 54 across 179 interventional studies indexed under Ascites.
Browse Ascites studies →Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences is the lead sponsor of 393 studies on the registry; 280 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Voluntarily sign the written Form (ICF) and be able to comply with study procedures and follow-up.
Female, aged 18 to 75 years. performance status of 0 to 2. or cytologically confirmed advanced ovarian cancer. Participants must have failed at least two lines of standard therapy (disease progression or intolerance), have no standard therapy available, or be unable to receive standard therapy for other reasons .
Complicated by massive malignant ascites, defined as a volume of ≥ 2000 mL indicated by Ultrasound or CT.
Expected survival time ≥ 3 months.
Adequate organ function (no blood transfusion, cell growth factors, etc., within 14 days prior to enrollment), defined as:
Neutrophils (ANC) ≥ 1.0×10\^9/L (PLT) ≥ 80×10\^9/L (Hb) ≥ 80 g/L Total (TBIL) ≤ 1.5× (≤ 3×ULN for Gilbert's syndrome or liver ) and AST ≤ 2.5×ULN (≤ 5×ULN if liver metastasis is present) ≤ 1.5×ULN and APTT ≤ 1.5×ULN (unless on anticoagulant therapy) ≥ 60 mL/min (calculated by Cockcroft-Gault formula) Toxicities from prior therapies must have recovered to ≤ Grade 1 (except for alopecia and ≤ Grade 2 neurotoxicity caused by chemotherapy) .
Exclusion Criteria:
Prior receipt of other cell therapies. Presence of loculated (septated) ascites indicated by CT or Ultrasound. Receipt of any systemic anti-tumor therapy (including chemotherapy, targeted therapy, etc.) within 3 weeks prior to intraperitoneal perfusion.
Receipt of Traditional Chinese Medicine (herbal) with anti-tumor indications within 3 weeks prior to intraperitoneal perfusion.
Receipt of systemic (≥ 10 mg/day prednisone or equivalent) or other medications within 2 weeks prior to intraperitoneal perfusion (inhaled, topical, or physiologic replacement doses are allowed).
Major surgery within 4 weeks prior to screening or planned major surgery during the study period.
History of other within 5 years (except for cured local tumors with low risk of recurrence, such as non-melanoma skin cancer).
History of active or suspected or inflammatory disease. History of organ transplantation or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Presence of active infection, including:
Active (HBsAg positive and HBV-DNA > 1000 copies/mL) Active (HCV antibody positive and HCV-RNA detected) Systemic active infection requiring antibiotic treatment Congenital or acquired immunodeficiency (e.g., infection) Vaccination with live or attenuated vaccines within 4 weeks prior to intraperitoneal perfusion.
Severe cardiovascular diseases, including:
Uncontrolled hypertension (SBP > 160 mmHg and/or DBP > 100 mmHg) History of hypertensive crisis or hypertensive encephalopathy Cardiovascular accident, , myocardial infarction, unstable angina, or significant vascular disease within 6 months Class ≥ II heart failure or \< 50% Severe arrhythmia uncontrolled by medication ( ≥ 450 ms for males, ≥ 470 ms for females), or congenital Long QT syndrome Severe respiratory disease (e.g., history of severe interstitial lung disease, severe ), \< 2L, or DLCO \< 40%.
History of clear neurological or psychiatric disorders, including epilepsy or dementia.
Other conditions considered unsuitable for the study by the investigator (e.g., prior Grade ≥ 3 adverse events from immunotherapy).
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.
Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.
On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
From a breathing test (spirometry): how much air you can blow out in the first second. Often given as a percentage of what is expected for your age, height and sex.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ECOG performance status
A scale of how much an illness limits everyday activity. For people being assessed to join a study, scores run from 0 (fully active) to 4; lower is more active.
Studies most often ask for 0–1 or 0–2. Your doctor gives the score; the WHO scale uses the same steps. The full scale also has 5, which records death.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Histologically or cytologically confirmed
The diagnosis was confirmed by looking at a sample under a microscope: tissue from a biopsy or surgery (histology), or cells from a fluid or needle sample (cytology).
Your pathology report is the document that shows this.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Platelets
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hemoglobin (Hb)
The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Bilirubin
A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.
Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ULN (upper limit of normal)
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Metastases
Cancer that has spread from where it began to other parts of the body. “Metastatic” cancer is cancer that has spread this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ALT and AST (liver enzymes)
Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.
Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
INR, PT and aPTT (clotting tests)
Blood tests of how long blood takes to clot. The INR is the prothrombin time (PT) put on a common scale; about 1 is usual for someone not taking a blood thinner.
Criteria often make an exception for people on a blood thinner such as warfarin, whose INR is raised on purpose.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Creatinine clearance (CrCl)
How quickly the kidneys clear creatinine, a waste product, from the blood. A study may estimate it from a blood test with age, weight and sex (often by the Cockcroft–Gault formula), or measure it using blood and urine collected over a set time. Given in mL/min; higher is better.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Immunosuppression
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis B tests
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.
Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hepatitis C tests
Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.
After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
TIA (transient ischaemic attack)
A “mini-stroke”: temporary stroke-like symptoms caused by reduced blood flow to part of the brain, spinal cord or eye, without signs of a new stroke on a scan.
Stroke symptoms need emergency care at once, even if they go away.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
NYHA class (heart failure)
The New York Heart Association’s four classes of how much heart failure limits physical activity.
Studies set their own limit — many outside heart failure leave out class III–IV, while heart failure studies may ask for a particular class. Check the class this study names.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction)
The share of blood the heart’s main pumping chamber (the left ventricle) pushes out with each beat, measured by an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or a MUGA scan. About 50–70% is normal.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
QT and QTc
On an ECG, the QT interval is the time the heart’s lower chambers take to activate electrically and recover in each beat. QTc is that time adjusted for heart rate (QTcF by Fridericia’s formula, QTcB by Bazett’s). Some medicines lengthen it, and a long QTc can raise the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm.
The study may name a correction formula and a limit in milliseconds, often around 450–480.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: long-term lung disease that makes it hard to breathe out, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
FEV1
From a breathing test (spirometry): how much air you can blow out in the first second. Often given as a percentage of what is expected for your age, height and sex.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Participants receive SK-NK Cell Injection via intraperitoneal perfusion. Phase I follows a "3+3" dose-escalation design with three cohorts (3\*10\^8, 6\*10\^8, and 9\*10\^8 cells). Phase II operates at the Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D). Treatment is administered once weekly for 4 weeks (Days 1, 8, 15, and 22).
Biological: SK-NK Cell Injection
Administered via intraperitoneal perfusion. Phase I involves a "3+3" dose escalation with three cohorts: 3x10\^8, 6x10\^8, and 9x10\^8 cells. Phase II uses the Recommended Phase 2 Dose (RP2D). The treatment schedule consists of one infusion weekly for 4 weeks (Days 1, 8, 15, and 22). The product is characterized by high purity (\>99%) and high expression of activation markers.
Also known as: Super Kill-NK Cell Injection, Allogeneic NK Cell Injection
Incidence of Adverse Events and Dose-Limiting Toxicities
Number of participants experiencing TEAEs and DLTs. Safety is evaluated using NCI CTCAE v5.0 and ASTCT consensus for CRS.
Time frame: From baseline up to 28 days post-infusion for DLT; safety follow-up through study completion (approx. 1 year)
RP2D
To determine the optimal dose for the Phase II expansion phase based on the evaluation of DLTs and the overall safety profile observed in the dose-escalation cohorts.
Time frame: Up to approximately 28 days after the first dose of the last participant in the dose-escalation phase.
Ascites Response Rate
Defined as the proportion of participants who require no paracentesis (abdominal drainage) for at least 4 weeks and whose ascites volume (measured by ultrasound as average depth x 10 x abdominal circumference) is controlled at Day 29.
Time frame: At Day 29 (±3 days) post-treatment initiation
Objective Response Rate (ORR)
Defined as the percentage of participants who achieve a Best Overall Response (BOR) of Complete Response (CR) or Partial Response (PR) after intraperitoneal perfusion.
Time frame: Assessed periodically up to approximately 1 year
Ascites Symptom Improvement Rate
Defined as the proportion of participants whose malignant ascites symptom scale score decreases by ≥30% compared to baseline.
Time frame: Assessed periodically up to approximately 1 year
Duration of Ascites Relief (DoR)
Defined as the time from the first documentation of objective response (CR or PR) to the first documented disease progression or death from any cause.
Time frame: From date of first response until progression or death, assessed up to approx. 1 year
1-Year Overall Survival (OS) Rate
Defined as the percentage of participants who are alive at 1 year after the initiation of treatment.
Time frame: 1 year post-treatment initiation
Persistence of SK-NK Cells in Peripheral Blood
Measured by qPCR to detect specific DNA sequences in peripheral blood samples.
Time frame: At Days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 during the treatment phase
Persistence of SK-NK Cells in Ascites
Measured by qPCR to detect specific DNA sequences in ascites samples.
Time frame: At Days 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 during the treatment phase
Changes in Cytokine Levels in Peripheral Blood and Ascites
Evaluation of levels of IL-2, TNF-a, and IFN-y (measured in pg/mL) using flow cytometry.
Time frame: At Baseline, Day 8, Day 15, Day 22, and End of Treatment (Day 29).
Changes in Immune Cell Subsets
Evaluation of the percentage of Tregs, Macrophages, and MDSCs relative to total CD45+ cells.
Time frame: At Baseline, Day 8, Day 15, Day 22, and End of Treatment (Day 29).
Plan to share: Yes — De-identified individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this study (text, tables, figures, and appendices) will be made available.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan
Time frame: Data will be available beginning 6 months and ending 36 months following article publication.
Access criteria: Data requests should be submitted to the corresponding author via email. Requesting researchers must provide a methodologically sound proposal and sign a data access agreement.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
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