Gritstone Oncology Announces Publication in Nature Biotechnology of Neoantigen Identification Capabilities of its Artificial ...
December 17 2018 - 11:00AM
Gritstone Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRTS), a clinical-stage
biotechnology company developing the next generation of cancer
immunotherapies to fight multiple cancer types, today announced
that data demonstrating the predictive performance of its EDGETM
(
Epitope
Discovery in cancer
GEnomes) platform in the identification of
tumor-specific neoantigens (TSNA) and neoantigen-reactive T-cells
was published in Nature Biotechnology.
Three distinct datasets were used in the manuscript to validate
the EDGE platform as a robust machine-learning tool for neoantigen
identification. First, the authors showed that EDGE increases the
accuracy of predicting human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-presented
peptides on tumor cells by up to nine-fold over industry-standard
methods using relevant metrics. Second, independently validated
neoantigens from published third-party studies (mostly from the
U.S. National Cancer Institute) were used to compare the
performance of EDGE versus public prediction tools. Using only
patient tumor mutation data from these studies to predict
neoantigens, EDGE correctly identified validated TSNA for 11 of 12
patients, versus only 4 of 12 patients identified with the standard
approach. Finally, using routine blood samples obtained from nine
non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving PD-(L)1 checkpoint
inhibitors, EDGE enabled identification of circulating T-cells
specific for true neoantigens in the majority of (5 of 9)
patients.
“Neoantigens are critical targets of immunotherapy and can drive
an effective anti-tumor T-cell response; yet, existing tools have
had low success rates in identifying true neoantigens,” said Roman
Yelensky, Ph.D., executive vice president and chief technology
officer. “We built our EDGE platform to be a best-in-class
machine-learning model using the largest dataset of HLA-presented
peptides from human tumor samples. The data published in Nature
Biotechnology support EDGE as a transformative tool for the
development of the next generation of neoantigen-targeted cancer
immunotherapies.”
“EDGE represents the cutting edge in personalized
immunotherapy,” said Timothy Chan, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and
scientific advisory board member of Gritstone. “I am very excited
to see this state-of-the-art technology used to improve neoantigen
vaccine development.”
EDGE’s prediction model was trained using a large dataset of
human tumor and normal tissue samples with paired class I
HLA-presented peptide sequences, HLA types and transcriptome RNA
sequencing. A variety of tumor types, such as breast, lung,
melanoma, colon and ovarian cancers were collected for sequencing,
and combined with publicly available data. The training dataset for
EDGE has since grown to now include more than 300 tumor and normal
tissue samples, yielding over one million peptides, from patients
of various ancestries with diverse HLA types. In addition to the
training dataset, a key differentiator that contributed to improved
performance was a novel integrated neural network model
architecture. This neural network enabled EDGE to jointly model
multiple key features, such as variable peptide length and the
dependence of peptide presentation on gene expression level using
RNA, essential for accurate prediction of true TSNA. The United
States Patent Office issued Gritstone its first patent covering
EDGE, on August 21, 2018 (Yelensky, et al., Neoantigen
identification, manufacture and use, US 10,055,540.).
About Gritstone
OncologyGritstone Oncology (Nasdaq:GRTS), a clinical-stage
biotechnology company, is developing the next generation of cancer
immunotherapies to fight multiple cancer types. Gritstone develops
its products by leveraging two key pillars—first, a proprietary
machine learning-based platform, Gritstone EDGE™, which is designed
to predict, from a routine tumor biopsy, the tumor-specific
neoantigens (TSNA) that are presented on a patient’s tumor cells;
and second, the ability to develop and manufacture potent
immunotherapies utilizing patients’ TSNA to potentially drive the
patient’s immune system to specifically attack and destroy tumors.
The company’s lead product candidate, GRANITE-001, is a
personalized neoantigen-based immunotherapy in Phase 1 clinical
testing. Gritstone’s second product candidate, SLATE-001, is a
shared neoantigen (“off-the-shelf”) immunotherapy which is
advancing towards the clinic. Novel tumor-specific antigens can
also provide targets for bispecific antibody (BiSAb) therapeutics
for solid tumors, and Gritstone’s BiSAb program is currently in
lead optimization. For more information, please visit
gritstoneoncology.com.
Gritstone Forward-Looking Statements This press
release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not
limited to, statements related to the predictive capabilities of
the EDGE platform in human clinical trials. Such forward-looking
statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could
cause Gritstone’s research and clinical development programs,
future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly
from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the
uncertainties inherent in the drug development process, including
Gritstone’s programs’ early stage of development, the process of
designing and conducting preclinical and clinical trials, the
performance of EDGE and Gritstone’s other products in clinical
trials, the regulatory approval processes, the timing of regulatory
filings, the challenges associated with manufacturing drug
products, Gritstone’s ability to successfully establish, protect
and defend its intellectual property and other matters that could
affect the sufficiency of existing cash to fund operations.
Gritstone undertakes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements. For a further description of the risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from
those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as
risks relating to the business of the company in general, see
Gritstone’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on
November 14, 2018 and any subsequent current and periodic reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
ContactsMedia:Dan Budwick1AB(973)
271-6085dan@1abmedia.com
Investors:Alexandra SantosWheelhouse Life Science Advisors(510)
871-6161asantos@wheelhouselsa.com
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