Moving cell-based immunotherapies to fight bacterial lung infections into the clinics

Introduction

Harnessing the immune system to combat global diseases has introduced a new era in modern medicine. The iMAClung proposal will extend this concept and will pave the way for the first immune cell-based therapy to combat bacterial airway infections.

Background

With more than 2 million deaths around the world in 2020, lower respiratory tract infections are still the deadliest communicable disease with unmet medical need. This highlights the necessity for radical new approaches to develop therapeutic avenues.

Objectives

The iMAClung proposal aims at the adoptive transfer of human macrophages directly into the infected lung. The goal is to restore the endogenous alveolar macrophage (AM) cell pool to efficiently resolve bacterial airway infections and to mediate lung regeneration at the same time.

Methodology

iMAClung will harness the unique features of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to use macrophages (iMonoMac) as a cell-based immunotherapy. This will follow the adoptive transfer of these cells directly to the site of pulmonary infection.

Previous Work

iMAClung is built upon the pioneering work of the ERC-Stg “iPSC2Therapy”, in which the anti-bacterial activity of iMonoMac against a variety of pulmonary (myco)bacterial infections has been successfully demonstrated in vivo.

Production Capabilities

In addition, “iPSC2Therapy” has also successfully shown the first scalable production of “off-the-shelf” iMonoMac using industry-compatible bioreactors. This now paves the way for the development of seminal (non)therapeutic concepts.

Clinical Transfer

To enable clinical transfer, iMAClung will build a team of medical, scientific, and industrial experts, all dedicated to bringing iMonoMac into humans.

Next Steps

To enter the next stage of the clinical translation pipeline, a path towards the clinics will be developed. This will facilitate subsequent exploitation and transfer into patients.

Impact

iMAClung will bridge the seminal therapeutic concept from bench to bedside, having broad value for patients, society, medical personnel, and the healthcare/biopharmaceutical industry within Europe and beyond.