Dr Donia Moujalled
WEHI (The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, VIC)
$600,000
2026 - 2029
Background:
Adult B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (BALL) can be very difficult to treat, especially when the disease returns after advanced treatments like immunotherapy.
While most children with BALL can be cured, adults who relapse often have far fewer options, and some develop a form of the disease that no longer responds to standard treatments. This creates an urgent need for new therapies for people with high-risk or relapsed or treatment-resistant adult BALL.
About the Project:
Dr Donia Moujalled and the team are testing a new antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) designed to deliver a powerful anticancer drug directly into leukaemia cells while limiting harm to healthy cells. This guided therapy targets a marker called CD74 on leukaemia cells and delivers a cancer killing load directly into those cells. Importantly, this ADC remains effective even when the disease has stopped showing the usual target (CD19) that many current immunotherapies rely on.
The team will carry out a series of laboratory studies to test this CD74-targeting ADC. This will include developing the world’s first “humanised” experimental system that enables accurate laboratory testing of this human specific treatment for both effectiveness and safety. The treatment will also be evaluated using laboratory models generated from leukaemia samples donated by adults whose BALL returned after immunotherapy or did not respond to treatment.
Impact:
This project could fast-track a new treatment option for adults with relapsed or treatment resistant BALL, particularly those whose cancer has escaped CD19-targeted therapies and currently have no standard options. By identifying which patients are most likely to respond (and why some don’t), the project aims to support more personalised treatment decisions and help design smarter, more effective clinical trials.
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