I Peace Inc, a California-based GMP cell therapy CDMO, announced on Friday that it has generated human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from NKT cells and has started offering them for research use.

NKT cells are immune cells known to possess characteristics of both innate and adaptive immunity and to play important roles in cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, and other conditions. The establishment of iPS cells derived from NKT cells is expected to significantly advance research in regenerative medicine and cancer therapy based on immune mechanisms.

In this development, I Peace says that it successfully created proprietary technology that enables the selective and efficient expansion of NKT cells. Using this technology, the company established iPS cells and further generated clonal lines, thereby achieving highly uniform and reproducible NKT cell derived human iPSCs. The established NKT cell derived iPS cells have been confirmed to originate from NKT cells through genomic PCR analysis.

According to I Peace, this technology enables research that leverages the unique immunological background of NKT cells and is expected to be applicable to a wide range of research and development fields, including cancer immunotherapy, infectious disease research, analysis of immunosenescence, and drug discovery screening.

The company also offers contract manufacturing services for GMP-compliant iPS cells in accordance with global regulatory requirements.