Predictive biomarker profile for tumour and patient stratification for CyPep-1 guided ICI-therapy

Cancer immunotherapy, based on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), has recently emerged as a ground-breaking treatment and is in the process of fundamentally reshaping the way of treating cancer. However, this excitement
has been rapidly challenged by the clinical reality showing that only a minority of patients benefit from the remarkable clinical remissions, whereas the majority of them have a short-term benefit or no benefit at all. Several clinical trials are now pushing towards combining several ICI to enhance and extend the use of immunotherapy to a large number of patients and cancer types. However, the wealth of knowledge and the plethora of ICIs for pairing make testing all potential combinations very challenging. In addition, not all combinations currently evaluated in clinical trials will necessarily meet the clinical expectations and patient needs. Moreover, identifying predictive biomarkers to stratify responsive patients remains an unmet clinical need and represents the major obstacle to the success of ICI treatment. Built upon evidence-based early clinical trial data, and fueled by synergistic cooperation between Tumor Immunotherapy and Microenvironment (TIME) group and Cytovation Pharma, PreCyse project will
contribute to expediting the clinical development of an innovative immunotherapeutic combination based on combining immune checkpoint blockades with a unique tumor cell specific non-viral oncolytic agent. The net
outcome of PreCyse project is to bring innovative combinatorial immunotherapy into the clinical practice and define reliable biomarkers that guide the stratification of patients that would benefit from such innovative therapy.