NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) — Cofactor Genomics announced today that its ImmunoPrism Immune Profiling kit will be used in a Phase I/IIa clinical study of Genocea Biosciences' personalized cancer vaccine candidate GEN-009.
Launched in October, the RNA-based kit allows for the preparation, sequencing, and immune composition analysis of solid tumors against Cofactor's database of machine learning-optimized immune reference expression models.
San Francisco-based Cofactor said Genocea will use the kit in a pilot study to comprehensively characterize the immune responses generated by clinical trial participants in response to vaccination. The kit, Cofactor added, is expected to allow Genocea to compare the immune cell composition of eight major immune types within and between patients, including expression reporting for key immune escape genes.
"Pilot studies such as this one, where our technology is implemented in the field to empower drug developers to find the most robust markers of therapeutic success, are extremely important in validating our cutting-edge technology," Cofactor Chief Operating Officer David Messina said in a statement. "Demonstrating the utility of a new approach to immune profiling is best accomplished with partners like Genocea, who are eager to gain access to the most innovative and advanced assays."
Earlier this year, Cofactor partnered with the National Cancer Institute and three unnamed academic and pharma groups to demonstrate the clinical utility of its Paragon immune profiling assay.