Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a specific type of immunotherapy that utilizes a modified version of a patient’s own immune cells to find and attack cancer cells throughout their body.

While CAR-T cell therapies have been successful in treating certain blood cancers, their application to solid tumours, such as ovarian cancer, remains challenging.

To address this, in close collaboration with the National Research Council, the research team has developed a novel CAR that uses an innovative “nanobody” against a protein called mesothelin (Meso), which is frequently overexpressed by ovarian, pancreatic and other solid tumours.

The team’s lead MesoCAR shows unparalleled efficacy in mouse tumour models, with 100% of treated mice achieving complete, durable tumour regressions. In collaboration with the Canadian-Led Immunotherapies for Cancer consortium, they are advancing MesoCAR from mouse models to a phase I clinical trial at three Canadian centres.

This project will finalize pre-clinical safety assessments of MesoCAR, initiate production of clinical-grade lentivirus and CAR-T cells, and design a clinical trial protocol. By the end of funding, the team will be ready to manufacture clinical-grade lentivirus and finalize CAR-T cell production methods to enable a Clinical Trial Application to Health Canada in 2026.

This project has the ambitious goal of “breaking the solid tumour barrier” using an exceptionally promising made-in-Canada CAR-T cell product.