NEW YORK – Biomedical software company BostonGene said on Tuesday that it is collaborating with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Weinstock Laboratory to research treatment response and resistance among patients with T-cell lymphomas.
Specifically, the partnership will focus on uncovering mechanisms that might cause patients' response or resistance to PI3 kinase inhibitors, including duvelisib (Verastem Oncology's Copiktra). Causes of adverse effects of duvelisib in patients with T-cell lymphomas will also be part of the collaboration.
Duvelisib's developer, Verastem Oncology, is providing additional support for the collaboration, as is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
BostonGene will offer its advanced computational analytics of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and multiplex imaging data sets, which will aid the researchers in predicting response and identifying new biomarkers. The company's software uses transcriptome sequencing data along with deconvolution algorithms that shed light on the cellular makeup of tumors and their surrounding microenvironments. The company also offers image analysis algorithms to assess tumor microenvironment distribution using immunofluorescence imaging data.
The Weinstock Laboratory at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston is an established translational research program that aims to identify new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for patients with leukemia and lymphoma.
"We are excited to collaborate with BostonGene," the lab's principal investigator David Weinstock said in a statement. "Improving patient outcomes is our top priority and by partnering with BostonGene we hope to accurately predict which patients will benefit from treatment by identifying new biomarkers that could be useful for other patients with cancer. The results have the potential to bring significant advantages to physicians as they make individual treatment decisions."