Public Private Partnership allowance for the development of a better treatment of cervical cancer
Amsterdam/Nijmegen, The Netherlands, December, 2023
Amsterdam UMC investigator Dr. Yongsoo Kim in collaboration with Predica Diagnostics received a TKI-LSH PPP allowance for the development of a technology for the optimal care of cervical cancer patients (RNADECON: https://www.ixa.nl/tkivideos/). Their goal is to accelerate the precise treatment of cervical cancer patients, thereby improving patient survival rates.
Cervical cancer is a major public health problem worldwide and mainly affects young adults between the ages of 35 and 45 in the Netherlands. Each year 800-900 new diagnoses are made. Despite available treatment options such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hyperthermia, not all patients benefit from this and 200 women in the Netherlands die of cervical cancer every year.
Immunotherapy has recently emerged as a promising option for advanced cervical cancer patients, with some responding patients demonstrating significantly prolonged survival. However, only 20% of patients respond to this treatment. Research has shown that cancer cells interact with other cell types in the tumor microenvironment, which is an important factor influencing treatment response and patient outcomes.
This project aims to enable the evaluation and use of the cervical cancer tumor microenvironment in routine clinical settings. Amsterdam UMC has developed a state-of-the-art computational technique that estimates the presence of different cell types in all cells in the tumor. In collaboration with Predica Diagnostics, we aim to develop a technology for building a comprehensive profile of the tumor microenvironment in cervical cancer patients, regarding different stages and treatment options, including immunotherapy, and assess the potential clinical utility of this information.
The ultimate goal of this study is to accelerate the precise treatment of cervical cancer patients, thereby improving patient survival rates, avoiding unnecessary costs and side effects associated with unfavorable treatments, and improving the quality of live.
Amsterdam UMC – Dr. Yongsoo Kim: Dr. Yongsoo Kim serves as an assistant professor in oncogenomics / Bioinformatics within the Department of Pathology at Amsterdam UMC. He is leading the Tumor Genome Analysis Core, where cutting-edge Next-Generation Sequencing techniques are developed and applied for both diagnostic and oncology research. Dr. Kim developed an innovative deconvolution technique, BLADE, that enables an accurate estimation of cell type composition and cell type-specific gene expression profiles from non-single-cell RNA-seq data.
Predica Diagnostics B.V is a spinoff from the Radboud UMC, active in the field of diagnostics, prognostics and prediction of treatment response in oncology. Predica Diagnostics aims to bring its ciRNAseq technology to patients in 1 to 2 years with a first focus on developing the CervicaDX test. The CervicaDx test allows non-invasive detection of cervical abnormalities with unprecedented specificity in women who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. The CervicaDx test, and other diagnostic tests for host-microbiome interactions will improve diagnosis and prediction of response to treatment with precision medicines, enabling the development of personalized treatment plans for cancer patients.
TKI-PPP
The Amsterdam UMC TKI grants for PPP projects are available to all Amsterdam UMC researchers and aims to them to perform more research projects in collaboration with companies in Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). The funding is provided by the NL government (Ministry of Economic Affairs) through the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO) and the Topconsortium voor Kennis en Innovatie Life Sciences & Health (TKI-LSH, a.k.a. Health-Holland).
Contact:
www.predica-diagnostics.com
Marco de Boer CEO (marco.deboer@predicadx.com)
+31 6 4444 8450