Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Innovative Therapeutic Strategies for Mixed Lineage Leukemia-rearranged B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Objective

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is the commonest cancer in children and B-ALL with mixed-lineage leukemia rearrangements (MLLr) has a particularly dismal prognosis compared with other B-ALLs. Many MLLrB-ALL patients are refractory to chemotherapy and eventually relapse. Thus, MLLrB-ALL remains clinically challenging. Adoptive transfer of T cells engineered to express artificial chimeric antigen (Ag) receptors (CARs) targeting tumor cell surface-specific Ag is an exciting new approach for cancer immunotherapy.
Clinical trials in patients with advanced B-ALL treated with CAR-T cells against CD19 have shown impressive disease remission; however relapse still occurs with loss of CD19. Importantly, the B-ALL patients who have not responded to CD19 CAR-T cells were mainly those carrying MLLr. A strategy to offset tumor Ag-loss relapse is to modify T cells with one CAR molecule containing two different binding domains in tandem (bispecific CAR). By using both in vitro and in vivo approaches, I plan to improve CD19 CAR-T cell therapy for MLLrB-ALL by i)developing a novel bispecific CD19/NG2 CAR, which we expect will reduce single-Ag immune pressure, and ii)through the combination of CD19 CAR-T cell therapy with P-D1/PD-L1 blockade.
How to achieve a long-term persistence of CAR-T cells in the host still remains a major challenge in adoptive T cell immunotherapy, and therefore understanding the interplay between T cells, MLLrB-ALL blasts and mesenchymal stromal cells/stroma is fundamental to improve the efficiency of this immunotherapy. We will thus address in vitro and in vivo the contribution of the leukemia microenvironment to CAR-T cell efficacy, as a potential tumor microenvironment (PD1/PD1L)-mediated indirect mechanism of immune escape to CAR T-cells.
This cutting-edge proposal will increase my scientific potential and I will be benefited with the complementary/leadership training activities already planned to reach in a near future an independent position.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2017

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

FUNDACIO INSTITUT DE RECERCA CONTRA LA LEUCEMIA JOSEP CARRERAS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 158 121,60
Address
CARRETERA DE CAN RUTI CAMI DE LES ESCOLES S/N
08916 Badalona
Spain

See on map

Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 158 121,60
My booklet 0 0