Together with the Erasmus MC Urothelial Cancer Research Group (EUCRG) from the Department of Urology, we have completed a pilot study investigating if OncoSignal is able to predict which high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients treated with BCG have a high risk of developing progressive disease. The promising results have led to a collaboration to perform OncoSignal on a large series of bladder cancer patients.
The aim of this study is to investigate whether OncoSignal could play a supporting role in treatment choice of bladder cancer patients. Since there is currently a global shortage of BCG, alternative treatment strategies for this patient group are essential.
Next to service testing and data analysis by the lab at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the OncoSignal Test for measuring ER, AR, PI3K and MAPK pathway activity is now ready for use in external labs.
The test is performed using an RT-qPCR testing plate to measure mRNA levels of selected pathway target genes and includes access to a secure cloud-based environment for calculation and reporting of quantitative pathway activity scores.
In collaboration with Princess Maxima Center for Pediatric Oncology we published our work in Cancers. In this study, the activity of Notch pathway is assessed in a cohort of T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) patient samples, and found that the pathway activity score more accurately reflects Notch pathway activity than a prediction on the basis of NOTCH1 mutations alone. Finally, is found that patients with low Notch pathway activity had a significantly shorter event-free survival compared to patients who had T-ALL cells with higher activity.
A number of cell signal transduction pathways are known to play a role in the development of cancer. OncoSignal helps to gain insight into the functional activity of these underlying tumor driving signaling pathways. mRNA levels transcribed from direct target genes regulated by the pathway transcription factors are measured and translated into a quantitative pathway activity scores. The activity score of each pathway is reported on a scale from 0 to 100, resulting in a quantitative characterization of the cell molecular phenotype. OncoSignal can support drug development, patient stratification for clinical trials, and cancer research.
For examples on the use of OncoSignal, please request the OncoSignal application note via oncosignal@philips.com.
*For Research Use Only – not for use in diagnostic procedures.
Service testing
NF-КB* pathways
“Having information regarding signaling pathways that could underlie critical immunologic populations within the tumor microenvironment may be pivotal in understanding how drugs affect the cancer. I am very interested in new technologies that I can use to investigate signaling pathway activity in cancer cells and immune cells for my research in this area”.
Susan F. Slovin, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Weill-Cornell Medical College
Attending Physician in the Genitourinary Oncology Service,
Sidney Kimmel Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers,
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA
“High grade serous ovarian carcinoma is still a hard to treat cancer. During the last 20 years we have hardly seen an improvement of survival rates. Recently, we have demonstrated that OncoSignal helps to understand the molecular mechanisms driving high grade serous ovarian cancer in individual patients helping future selection of more effective personalized therapies with targeted drugs. We aim to start a prospective study to further investigate the potential of OncoSignal in patients with ovarian carcinoma”.
Jurgen M. Piek, MD, PhD
Gynaecological Oncologist, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Catharina Cancer Institute, Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
"Nowadays, next-generation sequencing by using large panel is commonly recognized as a useful approach to improve cancer patient care. However, estimating the activity of specific pathways rather than single genes aberration may represent a more relevant approach to propose personalised cancer treatments by identifying the main driving mechanisms in each tumour. In this regard, Oncosignal represents a key innovation that can improve dramatically the capacity of molecular tumor board to recommend the right treatment for the right patient".
Prof. Antoine Italiano, MD, PhD
Head Early Phase Trials and Sarcoma Units, Institut Bergonié, Bordeaux, France
Head Precision Medicine program, Gustave Roussy, Paris, France
"OncoSignal Pathway Activity Profiling, a functional assay with a clear read out, has the potential to set a new standard for transforming precision oncology and may provide improved therapy selection options".
Anthony M. Magliocco, MD, PhD
Founder & CEO
Protean BioDiagnostics
Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
High Tech Campus 11
5656 AE Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 40 2730155
Email: oncosignal@philips.com
