Adaptive Biotechnologies study reveals homogeneous immune repertoire in solid tumors

Date: Oct-10-2013Adaptive Biotechnologies study reveals homogeneous immune repertoire in solid tumors

Main Category: Ovarian Cancer

Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines

Article Date: 10 Oct 2013 - 2:00 PDT

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Adaptive Biotechnologies study reveals homogeneous immune repertoire in solid tumors


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Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation, a leading provider of next-generation oncology diagnostics, has announced results from an ovarian cancer study, conducted in collaboration with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, highlighting the even distribution of immune fighter cells (T-cells) within the tumor. The study, published online in the Journal of Pathology ahead of the print publication, demonstrated the ability of Adaptive's immunoSEQ™ assay to assess the quantity and clonality of immune system cells within a tumor at a depth and specificity made possible by next-generation sequencing.

"Spatial heterogeneity of cancer genomes has been shown for multiple tumor types, which adds complexity to the genomic data collected from any given tumor biopsy because it is potentially unrepresentative of the tumor as a whole," explained Dr.Harlan Robins, corresponding author, Adaptive Biotechnologies co-founder and Associate Member of the Fred Hutch Public Health Sciences Division. "Our study shows that regardless of the multiple genomes found in ovarian tumors, the distribution of host immune T cells remains homogeneous. The potential impact on oncology diagnostics is significant in that the interpretation of the host immune response remains consistent regardless of the tumor section that a biopsy is taken from, which is a large hurdle when characterizing the cancer genome."

In this study, the Adaptive and the Fred Hutch team examined five large primary and metastatic ovarian tumors to determine whether the same population of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) was uniformly present throughout the tumors, or whether different tumor sections contained different populations of infiltrating T-cells. Using high-throughput sequencing provided by the immunoSEQ platform, the team identified the specific T-cell lineages present in up to 22 different biopsies from each tumor. The study demonstrated that the T-cells infiltrating these five ovarian tumors were homogenous, with largely the same T-cells observed regardless of the biopsy examined.

These data also complement a global effort under way to validate the need to incorporate a measure of immune-fighting T-cells, or TILs, into the staging criteria for patients with solid tumors. Adaptive and many research-based institutions globally are generating data demonstrating that patients with a "stronger" immune response to their tumor have a statistically higher chance of survival, often irrespective of tumor size or treatment protocol.

"The implication of this study on the field of oncology and diagnostics is profound," remarked CEO and co-founder, Chad Robins. "We are developing a suite of assays under the quanTILfyTM brand that offer researchers and clinicians a reliable, quantitative measure of the presence and diversity of infiltrating tumor immune system cells in solid tumors. We anticipate the launch of these assays into the clinic to support the diagnosis and staging of cancer patients in the near future."

Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.