Patient Stories

Preclinical Human Studies

Sophie Ryan

When our cofounder Tracy Ryan’s daughter Sophie was diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumor at 8½ months old, she and her husband, Josh, were devastated. Few advancements had been made in over 40-years for pediatric brain cancers, and the only option for Sophie was toxic chemos that had no chance of curing her disease. It became their mission to find a cure for Sophie, and other patients like her, that didn't have the same toxic outcomes of conventional therapies.


During this journey, Tracy was introduced to Dr. Jewett and learned of her focus on immune function. Dr. Jewett agreed to study Sophie’s immune system to better understand the underlying cause of the disease and assist the clinicians in developing a more effective treatment plan. 


Working with Sophie, and many other cancer patients over the years, Dr. Jewett developed unique insights into the functioning of the immune system and the pathways of disease that led her to the development of the activation method for supercharging NK cells. With the benefit of this research, it became clear to Tracy and Josh that Sophie’s best chance for a cure would be an infusion of sNK cells. 


The synergy between their two worlds led to the creation of NKore BioTherapeutics to commence the clinical development of the sNK cells to eventually make this therapeutic approach available to all cancer patients.


Sophie was the second patient, and first child, to ever receive NKore’s NK101 immunotherapy in December of 2023. She experienced no negative side effects, and her vision improved post-infusion. She received her second infusion in July of 2024 with no negative side effects and early signs of a positive clinical response. 


Infusion 1  & 2 Clinical Results

Scans Confirm Positive Clinical Response Post NK101 Infusion

First Infusion Clinical Results


  • Sophie received a single, low dose infusion of NK101 on Dec 5, 2023.
       
  • No adverse safety events or side effects were reported.
  • Ophthalmologist reported that Sophie’s vision was better than it had been in years, going from reading large print letters at 12 feet to 20 feet, and attributed the improvement to her NK Cell infusion.
  • Between 01/2024 and 06/2024, there was an increase in tumor size in all three planes and in tumor volume (60% increase in tumor volume), but increases of only 2mm x 3mm x 5mm. Radiologist did not consider this progression of disease, and the clinical team believed it to be pseudoprogression due to NK cells infiltrating the tumor causing it to swell.


Second Infusion MRI Results


  • Sophie received a second, low-dose infusion of NK101 that was in the same range as the previous infusion on July 10, 2024 with no adverse reactions.

  • On the December 30, 2024 scan (see image), necrosis was shown, representing what is believed to be cell death in the patient’s incurable, low-grade brain tumor.

Infusion 3 & 4 Clinical Results

Optic Pathway Glioma Demonstrates Response

Post Infusion Findings


  • Sophie received a 3rd infusion of of roughly 550 million cells in June of 2025, a 5x increase in dose.


  • 30 days later she received her 4th infusion of 1 billion cells, an almost 10x increase from her first infusions.


  • Bouncing in her vision had been an issue but before the second dose had finished all bouncing had resolved. No further bouncing has since been reported.


  • No negative side effects have been observed, Sophie experienced an increase in energy and her vision was reported to be the best it had been in 7 years after her 3rd infusion of 550 million cells in June.


  • Imaging will be conducted in October of 2025 and any further evidence of tumor deterioration will be studied and reported.