GC LabCell said Thursday that it has acquired a patent for culturing methods of natural killer (NK) cells from the Japanese Patent Office.

NK cells are innate immune cells that immediately tackle cancer or abnormal cells in the human body. Efficient mass production and cryopreservation is the core of commercialization because it is hard to culture high purity NK cell and its activation period is short.

The patent GC LabCell won relates to NK cell culture using T cells, which is the only technology that GC LabCell has in the world.

The company's NK cell therapy has high purity and is capable of mass production. The drug can be used without side effects, according to the company. Useful NK cells can be made with only a small amount of feeder cells when the T cells are used.

"Japan’s grant of patent following Korea and Australia will help our advance to overseas markets, and we will speed up the development of NK cell therapy,” said Hwang Yu-kyung, director of GC Labcell's Cell Therapy Research Center.