Nomic Bio Inc. and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) have announced a research collaboration focused on identifying circulating protein biomarkers associated with patient responses to immunotherapy across various cancer types. This partnership aims to enhance the understanding of how cancer patients respond to immunotherapy, which is increasingly becoming a first-line treatment option.
Large-Scale Protein Profiling of RADIOHEAD Cohort
Under the collaboration, Nomic will profile blood samples from PICI’s RADIOHEAD (Resistance Drivers for Immuno-Oncology Patients Interrogated by Harmonized Molecular Datasets) cohort. This prospective longitudinal study includes 1,070 patients receiving standard-of-care immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment regimens across 52 community hospitals in the United States. The project seeks to characterize the soluble signaling molecules in patient samples to elucidate communication pathways among immune cells in response to disease states and treatments.
nELISA Platform for Protein Quantification
The testing will be conducted using Nomic’s nELISA platform, which allows for parallel quantification of hundreds of proteins related to cancer and immune cell responses. This analysis will assess the levels of inflammatory and cancer-related proteins and explore their association with patient response to therapy, survival rates, and the likelihood of developing immune-related adverse events.
Advancing Precision Medicine in Immunotherapy
Tarak Mody, PhD, chief business officer at PICI, stated, "By characterizing the soluble signaling molecules of our longitudinal patient samples, we aim to elucidate the communication pathways among immune cells in response to disease states and treatments. The data from this mission-focused collaboration, along with other omics-data as part of the RADIOHEAD program, will enhance our understanding of treatment resistance and accelerate advancements in precision medicine to improve patient care."
The nELISA platform offers industry-leading specificity and delivers absolute quantification of numerous key protein targets. These advancements, combined with high throughput, have established Nomic as a leading proteomics solution provider in drug discovery.
Expected Data Publication
Milad Dagher, CEO and Co-Founder of Nomic, noted, "We are excited to work with PICI to help elucidate how cancer patients respond to immunotherapy, as it becomes a first-line treatment option across an increasing number of cancer types. Since its inception, the raison d’être of Nomic has been to empower scientists with the data they need to improve patients’ lives. This collaboration is a great opportunity for us to apply our nELISA technology to a project that can eventually help healthcare providers make more informed decisions about life-saving immunotherapies."
Nomic and PICI anticipate publishing data generated by the study in early 2025.
