Pluri Inc., a biotechnology company, has announced that the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) will fund its collaboration with the Bar-Ilan University Research and Development Company Ltd., (BIRAD), the commercial arm of Bar-Ilan University, to support the continued development of Placental Mucosal Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells for solid tumors.
 
MAIT cells are a unique type of T cell with potent anti-tumor activity. However, their clinical application has been hindered by challenges in expansion and scalability. Pluri’s proprietary technology addresses these limitations by enabling the efficient expansion of MAIT cells from human placentas.
 
The collaboration aims to further enhance the therapeutic potential of MAIT cells by integrating Prof. Cohen’s novel Siglec-based Chimeric Switch Receptors (CCR) into Pluri’s CAR-MAIT cell therapy platform. This integration is expected to improve the efficacy and specificity of CAR-MAIT cells in targeting solid tumors.
 
“I’m thrilled to collaborate with Pluri on this innovative project to be supported by the Israel Innovation Authority,” said Prof. Cyrille Cohen. “By combining our patent pending Siglec-based receptor technology and our expertise in designing potent CAR vectors for clinical applications, together with Pluri’s advanced capabilities in cultivating MAIT cells, we aim to harness the unique biological properties of these cells. While immunotherapy has shown great success in treating blood cancers, an equivalent success has yet to be duplicated in solid tumor malignancies. This collaboration offers the potential to overcome that challenge by creating powerful, off-the-shelf CAR T-cell therapies that specifically target solid tumors.”
 
“For over two decades, our team has been at the forefront of cell therapy research. We are excited to partner with BIRAD to combine our MAIT platform with Prof. Cohen’s innovative CCR technology,” said Yaky Yanay, CEO and President of Pluri. “This promising collaboration, recognized by the Israel Innovation Authority for its innovative potential, will help us create more effective immunotherapies for patients with solid cancer. We appreciate the IIA’s support in making this possible.”