Summary:

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) seeks co-development partners and/or licensees for a liquid biopsy diagnostic assay capable of detecting loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and somatic mutations in genes important for antigen processing and presentation and interferon-γ response pathways.

Description of Technology:

Immunotherapy is an effective cancer treatment utilizing T cells to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. Antigen processing and presentation machinery (APM) and interferon-γ (IFN) response pathways play an important role for T cells to target cancer cells. To evade immunotherapy, cancer cells can develop somatic mutations in genes important for APM and IFN.

Liquid biopsy is a non-invasive tool that can diagnose and monitor cancer by analyzing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). The ability to detect somatic mutations and predict response to immunotherapies using liquid biopsy would be critical to provide more personalized cancer treatment. However, currently marketed liquid biopsies cannot predict response to cellular immunotherapies. As a result, patients with relapsed or recurrent disease lose valuable time and resources on ineffective treatments.

The inventors at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed a novel method to detect somatic mutations from liquid biopsy samples. Combined with NCI’s method to detect loss of heterozygosity in HLA genes – another mechanism for immunotherapy evasion – this invention allows for improved patient selection and non-invasive prediction of response. This novel precision medicine method will allow patient-tailored treatment by targeting treatment based on genetic mutations and prediction of immunotherapy response. This invention could potentially deliver better patient satisfaction, lower healthcare costs and better outcomes.

The Center for Immuno-Oncology at the NCI is looking for co-development partners and/or licensees. As a companion diagnostic for immunotherapies, this invention will be used to select optimal patients and monitor efficacy of treatments – such as TCR-T cell therapy. There are no liquid biopsy assays on the market designed as companion diagnostic for cellular immunotherapy – such as TCR-T cell therapy. Therefore, this technology may be particularly appealing to co-development partners who are developing proprietary cellular immunotherapies.

Potential Commercial Applications:

• Companion diagnostic for cellular immunotherapies
• Companion diagnostic for monitoring the effectiveness of TCR-based immunotherapies
• Companion diagnostic for T cell-based immunotherapies, including certain immune checkpoint inhibitors
• Research use in labs studying/developing new pre-clinical therapeutic candidates
• Research use in basic research labs studying immunotherapy resistance mechanisms, antigen processing and presentation, interferon-γ response pathways, mutations in cancer cells, basic immunology and basic oncology

Competitive Advantages:

• First method to predict response to immunotherapies by detecting damaging mutations using liquid biopsy samples
• Non-invasive test not requiring surgery
• Easy to administer