Protagen AG, Dortmund, Germany, has executed a material transfer agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under which the parties will utilize Protagen’s SeroTag immune system profiling technology to identify biomarkers that predict therapy responsiveness, to monitor patients receiving immunotherapies, and for early detection of immune-related adverse events. The collaboration with NCI will be led by Jeffrey Schlom, PhD, chief of the laboratory of tumor immunology and biology at NCI’s Center for Cancer Research.
While targeted immunotherapies such as therapeutic vaccination and checkpoint inhibition hold promise for treating cancer, they currently work effectively on only a small subset of patients. In addition, as these therapies stimulate the immune system to target the body’s own cells, they can also trigger immune-related adverse events and even the onset of autoimmune diseases. Through their collaboration, Protagen and NCI intend to provide insight into utilizing immune system profiling to predict response, to monitor patients, and for detection of immune-related adverse events.
Peter Schulz-Knappe, PhD, Protagen.
“Our unique and innovative SeroTag technology has already proven that it can be used to accurately monitor the status of patients with autoimmune disease and segregate these complex diseases in homogeneous patient groups with the potential to predict treatment response,” says Peter Schulz-Knappe, PhD, chief scientific officer at Protagen. “Given the links between immunotherapy and autoimmune disease, it will be a natural extension to apply our approach to immunooncology and address some of the most pressing questions and challenges in the field.”
For more information, visit Protagen.
