Date: 2016-12-01
Type of information: R&D agreement
Compound:
Company: TESLA (Tumor neoantigEn SeLection Alliance)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: R&D
Action mechanism:
Disease: advanced melanoma, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer
Details: * On December 1, 2016, The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) announced a major collaboration focused on neoantigens, the Tumor neoantigEn SeLection Alliance (TESLA). The search for these unique cancer markers has become a robust area of research as scientists believe they may hold the key to developing a new generation of personalized, targeted cancer immunotherapies with the potential for significant efficacy with reduced side effects. This marks the first major collaboration between the San Francisco-based Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, launched in April 2016, and the Cancer Research Institute, founded in 1953 in New York City. The collaboration includes 30 of the world’s leading cancer neoantigen research groups from both academia and industry. Participating Organizations
The goal of the initiative is to help participating groups test and continually improve the mathematical algorithms they use to analyze tumor DNA and RNA sequences in order to predict the neoantigens that are likely to be present on each patient’s cancer and most visible to the immune system. In support of this, Parker Institute and CRI have partnered with renowned open science nonprofit, Sage Bionetworks, to manage the bioinformatics and data analysis.
Initially, the project is expected to focus on cancers such as advanced melanoma, colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer that tend to have larger numbers of mutations and thus more neoantigens. Over time, the initiative will seek to broaden the relevance of neoantigen vaccines to a wide range of cancers.
Participating research groups will receive genetic sequences from both normal and cancerous tissues. Using each laboratory’s own algorithms, each group will output a set of predicted neoantigens that are anticipated to be present on the tumor cells and recognizable by the immune system. The predictions will then be validated through a series of tests to assess which predictions are most likely to be correct and recognizable by T-cells. Through this effort, each participant will be provided with data to inform and to further improve their algorithms and therefore the potential effectiveness of personalized neoantigen vaccines for cancer.
Currently, the research institutions taking part include the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Caltech, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the University of California, Santa Cruz, The Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at UConn Health and Washington University School of Medicine. Internationally, scientists from the Fondazione Network Italiano per la Bioterapia dei Tumori, National Cancer Centre Singapore, the National Center for Tumor Diseases at Heidelberg University Hospital and the Netherlands Cancer Institute have also stepped forward to join the project.
Participants from industry include Advaxis; Agenus; Amgen; BioNTech; BMS; Genentech, a member of the Roche Group; ISA Pharmaceuticals; MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca; Neon Therapeutics and Personalis.
The six academic research centers that make up the core of the Parker Institute are also expected to participate, including: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford Medicine, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California, San Francisco, the University of Pennsylvania and The University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center. Initial tissue samples are expected to be provided by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, UCLA, the University Hospital of Siena in Italy and the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, a member of Hackensack Meridian Health. As the project progresses, the alliance will add to its growing roster of participants.
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