EUROSTARS grants project funding for IMMUNOMONITOR consortium

ENPICOM develops a T-cell/B-cell receptor (TCR/BCR) repertoire immunosequencing data analysis platform to support the development, patient stratification and treatment monitoring of immunotherapies. The goal of the IMMUNOMONITOR project is to validate the data analysis and visualization software solution for treatment response monitoring of cancer vaccines based on a unique approach to over-time immune repertoire sequencing data analysis.

While a growing number of immunotherapies have been approved, no adequate diagnostic tests are available to capture the desired immune response and to monitor if the therapy is effective in an individual patient. The consortium is addressing this unmet medical need with a software solution to capture and monitor a patient’s dynamic immune response over time using blood samples. Advances in Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) allow taking ‘snapshots’ of a patient’s immune response by sequencing DNA or RNA from the patient’s immune cells (i.e. immune repertoire). The enormous diversity of immune repertoires results in a staggering amount of data, which cannot be handled by existing tools for NGS data analysis.

In the IMMUNOMONITOR project, advanced bioinformatics algorithms will be developed using NGS big data analysis to generate an ‚immune status fingerprint‘ for monitoring cancer vaccines. The clinical validation studies will include two cancer vaccines tested in pancreatic cancer, lung cancer and malignant melanoma developed by OSE Immunotherapeutics and Ultimovacs, respectively.

Jos Lunenberg, CEO of ENPICOM, comments: “The collaboration will officially start today with a kick-off meeting in the Netherlands. We are extremely excited and happy to be working with this dedicated and highly motivated group of experts. This project is a great example of how a multi-disciplinary approach to healthcare can accelerate the process of translating technological innovation faster to patient benefits.” Professor Mascha Binder (UKE) is very pleased too and adds: “TCR/BCR repertoire data analysis is a new and powerful technology to analyze the immune status of patients and guide immunotherapies. Within this project we aim to prove its true value in treatment responses to cancer vaccines”.

The EUROSTARS program is a funding and support program, aimed at R&D-performing SMEs that wish to exploit the benefits that come with international collaboration. EUROSTARS applications pass through a highly-competitive selection process, being scrutinized by a panel of international research and business experts, to ensure that only the best business ideas and strongest partnerships get the support they need. It has been repeatedly shown that EUROSTARS helps businesses grown their teams, discover new expertise – and attract private investors. Within two years of completion the product of research should be ready for market introduction. The IMMUNOMONITOR consortium built and led by ENPICOM ranked number 52 in a total of 375 submissions.

About EUROSTARS

EUROSTARS is a joint program between EUREKA and the European Commission, co-funded from the national budgets of 36 EUROSTARS participating states and partner countries and by the European Union through Horizon 2020. Between 2014 and 2020, its public budget totaled €1.14 billion. EUROSTARS is dedicated to supporting international innovative projects, and supporting the development of rapidly marketable innovative products, processes and services, that help improve the daily lives of people around the world.