Lunaphore – a Bio-Techne brand announces new data at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) 38th Annual Meeting, underscoring the potential of the COMET™ portfolio in cancer research

MINNEAPOLIS, MN and LAUSANNE, Switzerland – November 1 – Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) today announced multiple new datasets facilitated by the flagship COMET™ platform™ of Lunaphore – a Bio-Techne brand. The research will be showcased in six posters presented by prominent research institutes at the  Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC) 38th Annual Meeting, taking place in San Diego, November 1-5, 2023. The new studies highlight the versatility of the COMET™ technology and the tremendous potential of Lunaphore’s end-to-end spatial biology solution to advance cancer research.

Poster presentation details

Development and optimization of a broad hyperplex immunofluorescence assay for tumor immune microenvironment characterization (Ben-Shimol R., et al.)

Aiming to improve the characterization of the tumor microenvironment (TME) and better stratify the response to immunotherapy, the research conducted by Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of Providence Cancer Institute, developed a 25-plex panel on the COMET™ platform. The optimized panel was successfully transferred to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma sample as part of a neoadjuvant-based clinical trial. The panel is currently applied across several large studies to assess the impact on the TME of pre- and post-neoadjuvant immunotherapy approaches. The successful development of similar panels holds the potential to comprehensively evaluate the spatial composition of the TME, ultimately accelerating the clinical implementation of new therapeutic approaches.

Automated hyperplex staining and imaging system on various cancer tissues using off-the-shelf antibodies (Chong LY., et al.)

The study of the Institute of Molecular Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) details the team’s research into the understanding of the spatial interactions between tumor and neighboring immune cells to identify potential targets for immunotherapy. The research team detected 40 markers on various cancer types using off-the-shelf antibodies analyzed with the sequential immunofluorescence (seqIF™) approach on the COMET™ platform. The study provides a comprehensive overview of the TME, including the tumor nest, the stroma, and lymphoid aggregates. The preserved tissue integrity could allow downstream steps on the same tissue section. Cellular phenotypes extracted from spatial data shall further support in-depth analyses to stratify patients’ treatment response status and disease progression.

Immune landscape of adenoid cystic carcinoma using multiplex immunofluorescence and digital pathology (Li A., et al.)

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive tumor, accounting for 1% of all malignancies of head and neck cancers. As no effective therapies are currently available, the community urges a deeper understanding of the anti-tumor immune response. Researchers of Massachusetts General Hospital utilized the COMET™ mIF technology coupled with computational image analysis to characterize the tumor immune landscape in a retrospective cohort study of 20 ACC cases. The result showed ACCs as “cold” tumors with sporadic tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Furthermore, the absence of PD-L1 or PD-L1 expression on tumor cells may indicate that alternative therapeutic approaches other than checkpoint inhibition should be considered.

Profiling cytokeratins in the tumor microenvironment using multiplex immunofluorescence (Fails D., et al.)

Cytokeratins play many vital roles in the body and provide important clinical information on disease progression and therapy response. Research conducted by Fortis Life Sciences® looked into cytokeratin profiles in conjunction with immune phenotypes of numerous cancer tissues. The study details the creation of a panel of 18 markers for use on COMET™, including Bethyl Laboratories IHC-validated primary antibodies, to profile the TME. Automated mIF was performed on COMET™, and the images were further analyzed using HORIZON™ software. The results identified that the combination of cytokeratin profiles points to the malignant vs benign status of the tumors. Using mIF can provide additional information to further enhance personalized clinical treatment plans.

Adding space to TiME by sequential immunofluorescence: a new dimension for the spatial biomarkers painting in a clinical cohort of lymphoma case (Almeida P., et al.)

The benchmark approach to pathological assessment of hematological malignancies often leads to potential misdiagnosis and delays in treatment due to biological variabilities and technological complexities. Research conducted in collaboration with École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, successfully verified a hyperplex panel of 34 markers on lymphadenopathy and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) FFPE samples, facilitated by COMET™’s seqIF™ approach. The tissue staining images were further analyzed using HORIZON™ software. The results underscore the unmatched technical capabilities of COMET while enabling a comprehensive understanding of the tumor microenvironment. The future integration of multiplexing technologies into clinical practice could pave the way to a more accurate, reproducible, and streamlined pathological assessment than the current gold standard.

 

Integration of RNA in situ hybridization and sequential immunofluorescence for same-slide fully automated multiomics analysis of the tumor microenvironment (Comberlato A., et al.)

Spatial biology techniques, such as hyperplex IF and RNA in situ hybridization, have transformed our understanding of TME by enabling the study of tissue composition and intercellular interactions. Combining RNAscope™ and seqIF™ techniques in a novel approach, COMET™ unlocks a unique, versatile capacity for simultaneous transcriptomics and proteomics within the spatial context of a single tissue slide. The research, conducted in partnership with  Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) – a Bio-Techne brand, automated all protocol steps, from pre-treatment to imaging, on COMET™, and allowed multiomics analysis without any user intervention. The data outlines that combining RNA and protein codetection enables a more holistic understanding of the TME molecular landscape and the complex cellular interactions exhibited by different cell populations. This highlights the key role of fully automated same-slide spatial multiomics analysis that will open new perspectives for personalized medicine and the discovery of novel therapeutic targets.

 

Lunaphore will also hold a Sponsored symposia with Dr. Brian Piening, Dr. Rom Leidner, Earle A. Chiles Research Institute a division of Providence Cancer Institute, and Dr. Marco Cassano, Lunaphore on November 3 at 12:15 pm PST, highlighting novel insights into the optimization of innovative anti-cancer therapy approaches for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Lunaphore’s scientists will be available at booth #530 to provide live demonstrations of the COMET™ system and access to raw staining images of various cancer types.

Learn more about the event and book a meeting with Lunaphore here.

To learn more about Lunaphore, please visit: https://lunaphore.com/

 

 

About Lunaphore

Lunaphore Technologies S.A. – a Bio-Techne brand, is a Swiss company born in 2014 with the vision of enabling spatial biology in every laboratory. Lunaphore provides solutions based on a game-changing chip technology that can extract spatial proteomic and transcriptomic data from tumors and other tissues, transforming any assay into multiplex spatial biology through a streamlined and easily integrated process. Lunaphore empowers researchers in immunology, immuno-oncology, and neuroscience to push the boundaries of scientific discovery and drug development. Lunaphore’s technology enables the identification of biomarker “signatures” with clinical relevance to support the development of diagnostic tools and streamline clinical trials, to ultimately improve patient outcomes. For further information on Lunaphore and its products, please visit https://lunaphore.com.

About COMET™

COMET™ is the only fully automated, high-throughput, hyperplex platform ensuring scalability and reproducibility without the need to conjugate primary antibodies. COMET™ provides walk-away automation, integrating staining, imaging, and image preprocessing steps to obtain standard hyperplex images. COMET™ generates highly robust and reproducible data with full tissue preservation, allowing researchers to perform downstream modalities such as H&E or transcriptomics using the same slide. Its superior tissue profiling capabilities facilitate the analysis of 40 different spatial markers in each automated run on a tissue slide. In contrast to other spatial biology solutions, COMET™ works with off-the-shelf, label-free primary antibodies, making panel design much more flexible and faster than any other hyperplex solution. COMET™ works with regular glass slides from standard histology workflows; it is validated for human and mouse samples and is compatible with any other animal sample. The platform can be used for a wide range of research applications, allowing for a dramatic improvement in the understanding of disease pathology. To learn more about the COMET™ platform, please visit: https://lunaphore.com/products/comet/

About Bio-Techne

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne products assist scientific investigations into biological processes and the nature and progress of specific diseases. They aid in drug discovery efforts and provide the means for accurate clinical tests and diagnoses. With thousands of products in its portfolio, Bio-Techne generated approximately $1.1 billion in net sales in fiscal 2022 and has approximately 3,000 employees worldwide. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit https://www.bio-techne.com or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.

 

For further information on Lunaphore contact:

Lindsey Rodger
Lunaphore Corporate Communications
Email: [email protected]

 

Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH)

Contact: David Clair, Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
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