Blood-Based Biomarkers Indicate Response to Urothelial Cancer Treatment

By News Release

 

A recently published study in Cancers journal identifies DNA replication and cell cycle regulation as an early marker of response to AnI-PD-1 for patients with urothelial cancer.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become one of the main treatments for patients with metastatic urothelial cancer. Although ICIs are highly effective with durable results in some patients, only a minority respond and benefit from the therapy. Therefore, there’s a significant unmet medical need for accurate liquid biopsy precision solutions that can select and monitor patients during ICI therapy.

“Early blood-based response biomarkers may provide a reliable and convenient way to determine whether ICIs are effective before imaging is available, usually after 12 weeks, and can be particularly useful for those with equivocal imaging,” said Dr. Niven Mehra, Department of Medical Oncology at Radboud University, The Netherlands.

The study, titled “Whole Blood Transcriptome Profiling Identifies DNA Replication and Cell Cycle Regulation as Early Marker of Response to AnI-PD-1 in Patients with Urothelial Cancer,” leveraged Novigenix core competencies in Immuno-Transcriptomics and machine learning for development of biomarkers and predictive algorithms. In whole blood of patients with clinical benefit, genes involved in DNA replication and cell cycle regulation were upregulated after two to six weeks of treatment.

“This study highlights the value of whole-blood transcriptomics platform of Novigenix, LITOseek, for generating insights into the immune response to anI-PD-1 therapy,” said Dr. Laura Ciarloni, Director Clinical and Scientific Affairs at Novigenix.

“This study demonstrates the power of whole-blood immunotranscriptomics for discovery of clinically actionable biomarkers that support drug development. This new class of liquid biopsy precision oncology solutions may support oncologists in the treatment of urothelial class of liquid biopsy precision oncology solutions may support oncologists in the treatment of urothelial cancer patients to significantly improve personalized ICI therapy and patient outcomes,” added Dr. Sahar Hosseinian, CTO of Novigenix.