Leading Cancer institute Dana-Farber to partner with OncoHost for groundbreaking cancer study

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world leader in cancer treatment and research, has agreed this week on a partnership with OncoHost, an Israeli precision medicine technology company, to conduct a pioneering study aimed at identifying biomarkers for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a common type of kidney cancer. This collaboration seeks to enhance clinical decision-making and patient management for metastatic kidney cancer.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a globally recognized leader in cancer treatment and research, committed to providing advanced care and pioneering new cancer treatments through comprehensive research. The collaboration with OncoHost will utilize Dana-Farber’s extensive repository of patient blood samples and clinical data.

OncoHost will use the date provided to develop a detailed profile of proteins in the blood, linking changes in protein levels to key treatment outcomes such as best response, overall survival, and progression-free survival. The approach aims to create a more personalized and effective treatment plan for patients.

“Patients with kidney cancer currently lack a blood test for personalized treatment recommendations,” said Dr. Wenxin Xu, a physician at Dana-Farber and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, who is leading the study. “This study aims to determine if measuring thousands of cancer-related proteins in blood samples can enable data-driven, personalized predictions. Success in this endeavor could enhance our understanding of kidney cancer biology and its treatments.”

Immune-checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy has been a transformative treatment for kidney cancer, yet it presents challenges due to immune-related side effects and inconsistent patient responses. ICI therapy works by stimulating the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells, but it can also lead to adverse reactions where the immune system targets healthy tissues. The new study seeks to overcome these hurdles by finding biomarkers that can predict patient responses to ICI therapy, thus tailoring treatments more effectively and minimizing harmful side effects.

The primary objectives of the study include creating profiles of proteins in the blood of metastatic kidney cancer patients before treatment and linking these profiles to treatment response metrics. By examining these protein profiles, researchers hope to understand which patients are more likely to respond positively to ICI therapy and which might be at risk for severe side effects.

“We are excited to collaborate with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on this important research study,” said Dr. Ofer Sharon, CEO of OncoHost. “Validated biomarkers are crucial in the era of precision medicine to guide treatment decisions and identify resistance pathways in various tumors. Unfortunately, kidney cancer currently lacks reliable biomarkers for predicting ICI response. Our goal is to fill this gap, improving first-line treatment decisions and, ultimately, patient outcomes.”

The research will also explore pathways associated with treatment responses and immune-related side effects, potentially offering new insights into treatment strategies and resistance patterns. These findings will be compared with similar pathways identified in other cancers, enhancing the overall understanding of cancer treatment and resistance mechanisms.

OncoHost, headquartered in Binyamina in central Israel is known for its innovative approach to precision medicine. The company’s platform, PROphet, is a plasma-based proteomic pattern analysis tool initially developed for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This tool uses a single blood sample to guide first-line immunotherapy decisions, significantly impacting patient outcomes.

Leveraging advanced analysis of large-scale protein studies and AI-based host response science, OncoHost’s platform acts as a dynamic "disease sniffer," providing early identification of treatment response, resistance mechanisms, and strategies to overcome resistance.