Hybrid CAR – improving cellular therapies for infectious diseases (Hybrid CAR)

In this project we aim to develop a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell-based therapy against a viral infection, where virus becomes effectively eliminated from the patient’s organism. CAR T cell therapy has been successfully applied to treatment of haematological malignancies, but its usage to treat viral infections so far has failed clinical trials. The novelty of our approach consists in targeting not only infected host’s cells expressing viral proteins on their surface, but also the pool of free virus that would otherwise fuel the subsequent cycles of infection. Additionally, neutralizing free virus particles should serve to boost host’s response towards the pathogen. We have already received priority date from European Patent Office for this idea and with this application we currently are focusing on supporting our patent claims with experimental data. While we use HIV viral infection as an example, the Hybrid cells can be used also for other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and multi resistant bacterial infections.