What You Should Know:
– Pangea Biomed, the startup behind the advanced cancer response prediction platform ENLIGHT, today announced the beginning of a pilot collaboration with the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).
– This collaboration will explore the ability to predict personalized cancer treatment response using data processed through the Serial Measurements of Molecular and Architectural Responses to Therapy (SMMART) Clinical Trials Program.
OHSU and Pangea Biomed Collaborate on Cutting-Edge Cancer Research Pilot
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), the state’s only academic health center and one of Portland’s largest employers, continues to lead in medical innovation. In 2023, OHSU secured approximately $596.88 million in research grants and disclosed more than 80 new technologies. In a new collaboration, OHSU partners with Pangea Biomed to leverage its proprietary ENLIGHT-DP platform, developed in conjunction with the Australian National University and the National Cancer Institute, to analyze longitudinal biopsy data from OHSU patients.
Pangea Biomed’s ENLIGHT-DP platform uses a two-step process to enhance cancer treatment. The platform employs DeepPT, a novel deep-learning framework, to predict genome-wide tumor mRNA expression from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained slides. The inferred expression values are then processed by ENLIGHT to predict treatment responses, enabling a more comprehensive analysis of a patient’s cancer and facilitating personalized treatment strategies.
The pilot study will analyze data from two major cancer research projects:
– Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Evolution and Resistance to Therapy (MMTERT): Led by Mills, this study focuses on identifying methods and tests to improve cancer treatment for patients with localized, advanced, or metastatic cancer.
– Adaptive Multidrug Treatment of Evolving Cancers (AMTEC) Trial: Led by Dr. Alexandra Zimmer at OHSU, this trial investigates whether combining olaparib with durvalumab, selumetinib, capivasertib, or ceralasertib can provide greater benefit for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) compared to standard therapies.
Additionally, Pangea Biomed’s analysis will explore dynamic changes in the transcriptome, which includes all RNA transcripts, both coding and non-coding, across consecutive lines of cancer treatment. This pilot project will last approximately five months, with the findings intended for a joint manuscript between OHSU and Pangea Biomed.
“Through our pilot collaboration with Pangea, our goal is to identify therapies that can overcome cancer drug resistance, paving the way for more effective treatments tailored to each individual patient,” said Gordon Mills, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Precision Oncology program at the Knight Cancer Institute.
