MRA will finance the MUW project on non-commercial clinical trials of CAR-T therapy

After the first round of the competition for the research and development activities in the field of non-commercial clinical trials, the Medical University of Warsaw received funding from the Medical Research Agency in the amount of PLN 17,354,830 for the implementation of the project entitled "The Use of low-dose CAR-T antiCD19 lymphocytes in the treatment of adult patients with recurrent and refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Burkitt’s lymphoma. Phase I/II clinical trial (MERMAID1)".

„The MERMAID1 study will include the use of one of the most innovative anticancer therapies using the patient’s genetically modified lymphocytes – the so-called CAR-T lymphocytes – to treat adult patients with refractory and recurrent acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Burkitt’s lympoma.
The lymphocytes will be modified with a structure encoding the receptor directed against CD19 particles present on the surface of B lymphocytes and the cancers derived from them.
The study will be conducted in a consortium composed of MUW/UCC MUW, the Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine as well as the National Institute of Oncology, and CAR-T lymphocytes will be produced for the first time in Poland.” – says Prof. Grzegorz Basak – Head of the Department and Clinic of Heamatology, Transplantology and Internal Medicine of UCC MUW, the project manager.
The CAR-T cell therapy is based on genetically modified T cells, which have acquired the ability to recognize the characteristics of the cancer cell that distinguish it from a healthy cell, and thus are able to destroy the cancer cell.

Photo: Department of Medical Photography MUW