Researchers from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) are collaborating with biotechnology company Cellis to develop a therapy designed to improve the survival of patients with the brain tumour glioma. 

‘We are working on an innovative cell therapy using cells of the immune system, i.e. macrophages’, says Dr Małgorzata Górczak of the Centre for Cell Immunotherapy at SGGW. 

‘We encapsulate the drug inside the macrophage, which is additionally combined with a protein. On the one hand, the protein has a protective role, so that the drug is not released too quickly and does not damage the macrophages before they have done their job, or the patient’s healthy cells. On the other hand, the macrophages transmit the protein to the cancer cells and, in the process, smuggle the protein-bound drug that kills the cancer cells.

The therapy is called MDC (Macrophage-Drug-Conjugate) and has been patented by Cellis Ltd. The biological mechanisms underlying this therapy are being investigated at SGGW, for which Prof. Magdalena Król has been awarded as many as three European Research Council (ERC) grants. Preclinical studies of MDC therapy demonstrate its extremely high efficacy. The therapy is currently being prepared for clinical trials, which will take place in Switzerland.