Category Archives: Molecular Medicine

Newswise The most practical solution for drug delivery to the eyeball is topical, i.e. eye drops. However, a naturally occurring substance in tears actually can interact with the drug delivery system (DDS), hindering absorption of the drug and preventing it from getting into the cells it needs to target. Mucin, or MUC, is usually there to protect your eye, but when MUC is exposed to a molecule such as a lipoplex, a common form of DDS already used in ophthalmological drugs, it will bind to it and reduce absorption into the targeted tissue. So, scientists asked, is there some way to sneak the lipoplex past the MUC?

Through the use of an engineered, artificial protein corona (PC), researchers were able to dress the lipoplexes up as something that MUC would ignore. They found that a protein called Fibronectin (FBN), and a tripeptide of the amino acids Valine, Glycine, and Aspartate (VGA), were both effective at concealing the lipoplex, avoiding being coated in MUC, and binding to the corneal epithelial cells for better absorption of the DDS.

Because MUC binds to the lipoplex surface, it alters both their size and the positive or negative surface charge, explains Carlo Astarita, Ph.D. candidate studying at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Department of Biology, College of Science and Technology, Temple University. This reduces absorption of the medicine by the primary corneal epithelial cells. So, how do we prevent MUC from interfering? We give the liposome a new coating that is recognized by receptors expressed on the ocular surface, circumventing the problem, and delivering the molecule more directly to the targeted tissue.

The researchers are part of a multi-institutional, international collaboration between the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University, the University of Pennsylvanias Scheie Eye Institute, and co-authors at several universities in Italy.

As a dry eye specialist I see a myriad of patients with various surface disease issues, says Giacomina Massaro, M.D., of the Scheie Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and in order to achieve an effective treatment, drugs need to reach the target tissue (i.e. the corneal epithelial cells). In many situations the drugs are blocked by a complex mix of mucous, lipids, proteins and fluids which bathe the ocular surface. It is imperative that drugs have the ability to break through this barrier.

This study is a quintessential example of our researchers using precision medicine to innovate, says Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., Founder and Director of the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO) and the Sbarro Institute at Temple University, as well as a joint research program with the University of Siena, Italy. We identify a problem which inhibits the efficacy of certain types of treatments, and then we ask, what does the body provide in this case as its own solution? In this case, the answer is right there on the surface of the cells: we make the medicine so that it binds with the targeted tissue. In this way, precision medicine opens the door to increased effectiveness to treat a wide range of ocular conditions and disease.

About the Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO)

The Sbarro Health Research Organization is a non-profit charity committed to funding excellence in basic genetic research to cure and diagnose cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and related chronic illnesses and to foster the training of young doctors in a spirit of professionalism and humanism (www.shro.org)

Read this article:
The Medicine in Eye Drops Needs a Disguise to Sneak Past Your Tears - Newswise

New studies of the molecular action of tarantula venom on sodium channels may suggest ideas for the structural design of better drugs to treat chronic pain. The venom plunges a biochemical stinger into a voltage sensor on the channel that traps it in its resting position, keeping the channel from activating and from producing electrical signals. Credit: Alice C. Gray

Venom immobilizes prey by interfering with sodium channels that generate electrical signals in the animals nerve cells.

Oversized, hairy tarantulas may be unsightly and venomous, but surprisingly their hunter toxin may hold answers to better control of chronic pain.

A bird-catching Chinese tarantula bite contains a stinger-like poison that plunges into a molecular target in the electrical signaling system of their preys nerve cells.

A new high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy study shows how the stinger quickly locks the voltage sensors on sodium channels, the tiny pores on cell membranes that create electrical currents and generate signals to operate nerves and muscles. Trapped in their resting position, the voltage sensors are unable to activate.

The findings are published in Molecular Cell, a journal of Cell Press.

The action of the toxin has to be immediate because the tarantula has to immobilize its prey before it takes off, said William Catterall, professor of pharmacology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He was the senior researcher, along with pharmacology professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, Ning Zheng, on the study of the molecular damage inflicted by tarantula venom.

This graphic abstract for a Nov. 23 Molecular Cell paper shows how a tarantula nerve toxin acts on a chimera of a voltage-gated sodium channel. The chimeric sodium channel contains part of a human channel crucial for pain transmission that has been imported onto a model ancestral sodium channel from a bacterium. The tarantula toxin has a lysine stinger that traps the voltage sensor on the sodium channel and keeps it from activating. The toxin thus immobilizes the tarantulas prey. Its action on sodium channels also holds ideas for designs for better pain-control drugs. Credit: Catterall and Zheng labs/UW Medicine

While some might dismiss those tarantulas as ugly, tough and mean, medical scientists are actually interested in their venoms ability to trap the resting state of the voltage sensor on voltage-gated sodium channels and shut them down. Such studies of toxins from these big, nasty dudes, as Catterall describes them, could point to new approaches to structurally designing drugs that might treat chronic pain by blocking sensory nerve signals.

Catterall explained that chronic pain is a difficult-to-treat disorder. Efforts to seek relief can sometimes be a gateway to opiate overdose, addiction, prolonged withdrawal, and even death. The development of safer, more effective, non-addictive drugs for pain management is a vital need.

However, because it has been hard to capture the functional form of the tarantula toxin-ion channel chemical complex, reconstructing the toxins blocking method in a small molecule has so far eluded molecular biologists and pharmacologists seeking new ideas for better pain drug designs.

Researchers overcame this obstacle by engineering a chimeric model sodium channel. Like mythical centaurs, chimeras are composed of parts of two or more species. The researchers took the toxin-binding region from a specific type of human sodium channel that is crucial for pain transmission and imported it into their model ancestral sodium channel from a bacterium. They were then able to obtain a clear molecular view of configuration of the potent toxin from tarantula venom as it binds tightly to its receptor site on the sodium channel.

This achievement revealed the structural basis for voltage sensor trapping of the resting state of the sodium channel by this toxin.

Remarkably, the toxin plunges a stinger lysine residue into a cluster of negative charges in the voltage sensor to lock it in place and prevent its function, Catterall said. Related toxins from a wide range of spiders and other arthropod species use this molecular mechanism to immobilize and kill their prey.

Catterall explained the medical research importance of this discovery. The human sodium channel placed into the chimeric model is called the Nav1.7 channel. It plays an essential role, he noted, in transmission of pain information from the peripheral nervous system to the spinal cord and brain and is therefore a prime target for pain therapeutics.

Our structure of this potent tarantula toxin trapping the voltage sensor of Nav1.7 in the resting state, Catterall noted, provides a molecular template for future structure-based drug design of next-generation pain therapeutics that would block function of Nav1.7 sodium channels.

Reference: Structural Basis for High-Affinity Trapping of the NaV1.7 Channel in Its Resting State by Tarantula Toxin by Goragot Wisedchaisri, Lige Tonggu, Tamer M. Gamal El-Din, Eedann McCord, Ning Zheng and William A. Catterall, 23 November 2020, Molecular Cell.DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.10.039

The lead authors on the study were Goragot George Wisedchaisri and Lige Tonggu, both of the UW School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology. Tamer M. Gamal El-Din, also of Pharmacology, and Eedann McCord, now with the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the UW medical school, contributed to the research.

Read the rest here:
Tarantula Toxin Attacks With Molecular Stinger May Hold Answers to Better Control of Chronic Pain - SciTechDaily

Visit the News Hub

Combination therapies appear to prevent emergence of drug resistance

MD/PhD student Rita Chen (left) and Brett Case, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher, prepare to work with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, under strict biosafety conditions. Chen, Case and MD/PhD student Emma Winkler co-led a study with virologist and immunologist Michael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, to assess how well antibody-based drugs for COVID-19 perform against a range of virus variants.

COVID-19 therapies made from antibodies often are given to patients who are at high risk of severe illness and hospitalization. However, there have been nagging questions about whether such antibody therapies retain their effectiveness as worrisome new virus variants arise.

New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that many, but not all, therapies made from combinations of two antibodies are effective against a wide range of variants of the virus. Further, combination therapies appear to prevent the emergence of drug resistance.

The study, in mice and hamsters, tested all single and combination antibody-based therapies authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or that are being evaluated in late-stage clinical trials, against a panel of emerging international and U.S. variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The findings, published June 21 in the journal Nature, suggest that COVID-19 drugs made of two antibodies often retain potency as a therapy against variants even when in vitro studies experiments conducted in a dish indicate that one of the two antibodies has lost some or all ability to neutralize the variant.

We knew how these antibodies were behaving in vitro, but we dont give people drugs based solely on cell culture data, said senior authorMichael S. Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine. When we looked in animals, there were some surprises. Some of the combinations performed better than we thought they would, based on in vitro data. And there was no drug resistance to combinations whatsoever, across all of the different variants. Were going to have to continue to monitor the effectiveness of antibody therapy as more variants arise, but combination therapy is likely needed for treating infections with this virus as more variants emerge.

So-called monoclonal antibodies mimic those generated by the body to fight off the virus that causes COVID-19. Administration of antibody therapies bypasses the bodys slower and sometimes less effective process of making its own antibodies. At the time this study began, there were two dual-antibody combination therapies and a single antibody therapy authorized by the FDA for emergency use. The FDA withdrew authorization for the single antibody therapy, bamlanivimab, in April on the grounds that it was not effective against the variants circulating at that time. In May, the FDA authorized the single antibody sotrovimab as a treatment for COVID-19.

In all, the researchers evaluated antibodies corresponding to the FDA-authorized ones made by Eli Lilly and Co., Regeneron and Vir Biotechnology/GlaxoSmithKline, as well as the antibodies currently under development by AbbVie, Vir and AstraZeneca that are in clinical trials.

The researchers led by co-first authors Rita E. Chen, an MD/PhD student, Emma S. Winkler, an MD/PhD student, and Brett Case, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher tested the antibodies against a panel of virus variants containing key mutations in their spike genes. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses spike protein to invade cells. All monoclonal antibody-based COVID-19 therapies work by interfering with the interaction between spike protein and cells.

The panel included mutations found in three of the four variants that have been designated variants of concern by the World Health Organization Alpha (first identified in the United Kingdom), Beta (South Africa) and Gamma (Brazil) as well as an emerging variant from India similar to the Delta variant of concern. They also tested variants from New York and California. The researchers used a mix of virus samples originally obtained from people with COVID-19 and laboratory strains genetically engineered to contain key mutations.

The researchers evaluated the antibodies in hamsters and two strains of mice. The researchers first gave the animals antibodies singly or in the same combinations in which they are given to treat patients a day before infecting them with one of the virus variants. The researchers monitored the animals weight for six days and then measured the amount of virus in their noses, lungs and other parts of the body.

Although some single antibodies showed reduced or no ability to neutralize virus variants in a dish, low doses of most of the antibody combinations protected against disease caused by many of the variants. The researchers sequenced viral samples from the animals and found no evidence of drug resistance in viruses from any of the animals that had been treated with combination therapies.

Dual therapy seemed to prevent the emergence of resistant viruses, said co-author Jacco Boon, PhD, an associate professor of medicine, of molecular microbiology and of pathology & immunology. Resistance arose with some of the monotherapies, but never with combination therapy.

Since antibody-based COVID-19 therapies primarily are used to treat people who already are infected, the researchers also evaluated how well the antibody combinations performed when given after infection with the Beta variant. The Beta variant was chosen because it has been shown to be most likely to escape neutralization in laboratory-based experiments and has the most resistance to COVID-19 vaccines. The antibody cocktails corresponding to those from AstraZeneca, Regeneron and Vir were all effective at reducing disease caused by the Gamma variant; the one from AbbVie only was partially protective, and the one from Lilly showed no efficacy at all.

Its going to be useful going forward to understand how these monoclonal antibodies are going to behave as variants continue to emerge, said Diamond, who also is a professor of molecular microbiology and of pathology & immunology. We need to think about and generate combinations of antibodies to preserve our ability to treat this disease. And well need to monitor for resistance although, in my opinion, the use of specific combinations will make this less of an issue.

Chen RE, Winkler ES, Case JB, Aziati ID, Bricker TL, Joshi A, Darling T, Ying B, Errico JM, Shrihari S, VanBlargan LA, Xie X, Gilchuk P, Zost SJ, Droit L, Liu Z, Stumpf S, Wang D, Handley SA, Stine WB, Shi P-Y, Davis-Gardner ME, Suthar MS, Knight MG, Andino R, Chiu CY, Ellebedy AH, Fremont DH, Whelan SPJ, Crowe JE, Purcell L, Corti D, Boon ACM, Diamond MS. In vivo monoclonal antibody efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variant strains. Nature. June 21, 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03720-y

This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant and contract numbers R01 AI157155, U01 AI151810, U01 AI141990, R01 AI118938, 75N93019C00051, HHSN272201400006C, HHSN272201400008C, and HHSN75N93019C00074; the Childrens Discovery Institute, grant number PDII2018702; the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, grant number HR0011-18-2-0001; the Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund at Vanderbilt University; Fast Grants; the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; and the Future Insight Prize from Merck KGaA.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, consistently ranking among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

Read this article:
COVID-19 dual-antibody therapies effective against variants in animal study Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis - Washington...

Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, September 20-22, 2021

NEEDHAM, Mass. (PRWEB) June 22, 2021

Bio-IT World Conference & Expo has just released the final agenda for the 20th anniversary eventtaking place virtually and in-person on September 20-22, 2021 in Boston, Mass.featuring a comprehensive list of 180+ biopharma executives along with other industry experts.

Bio-IT World Conference & Expo will return this year to Boston, Mass., once again bringing a diverse lineup of speakers and an expo with leading solution providers to its new venue, the Sheraton Boston. The hybrid format also features a virtual platform that provides an option for biopharma leaders from around the world to engage with their peers and expert thought leaders safely and conveniently.

Bio-IT World continues taking a leadership role to keep our life science community connected. We are investing in technology to ensure you stay connected with others whether you attend in-person or virtually. We are grateful for the support of our community during the past year as we pivoted from an in-person meeting in 2019, to a 100% virtual meeting in 2020, and now to a hybrid format for 2021. We are excited to see you at our new venue in Boston and look forward to hearing the latest research, science, and solutions, said Bio-IT World Executive Event Director, Cindy Crowninshield.

Biopharma executives who will be sharing their thought leadership this September include:

Attend Bio-IT World Conference & Expo this September 20-22, 2021, at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, Mass. In-person space is limited this year. Register today to secure your spot: bio-itworldexpo.com.

About Bio-IT World Conference & ExpoFor 20 years, the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo has been the worlds premier event showcasing technologies and analytic approaches that solve problems, accelerate science, and drive the future of precision medicine. Bio-IT World unites a community of leading life sciences, pharmaceutical, clinical, healthcare, informatics and technology experts in the field of biomedical research, drug discovery & development, and healthcare from around the world.

For sponsorship opportunities contact Angela Parsons, VP, Business Development at aparsons@healthtech.com.

To register to attend Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, click here.

About Cambridge Healthtech InstituteCambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, CROs, academia, and niche service providers. CHI is renowned for its vast conference portfolio held worldwide including PepTalk, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, SCOPE Summit, Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, PEGS Summit, Drug Discovery Chemistry, World Pharma Week, The Bioprocessing Summit, Next Generation Dx Summit, Immuno-Oncology Summit, and Discovery on Target. CHI's portfolio of products includes Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Barnett International, Insight Pharma Reports, Bio-IT World, Clinical Research News and Diagnostics World. For more information visit healthtech.com.

Share article on social media or email:

The rest is here:
Bio-IT World Conference & Expo to Bring Together Top Biopharma Executives for its Hybrid Return - PR Web

The GW4 Alliance (Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities GW4) formally launched their new One Health antimicrobial resistance research consortium this week [Wednesday 16 June]. The World Health Organisation cites antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the most significant risks facing the world. AMR threatens global health and development as it impacts on human, animal and plant health and also our environment, water safety and food security.

The GW4 AMR Alliancehas been established to tackle this global challenge and become the UKs leading interdisciplinary One Health AMR research consortium, recognised worldwide.

A launch event showcasing GW4s cross-disciplinary AMR research collaborations and some of the One Health AMR projects and programmes being undertaken by GW4 teams and their collaborators took place on Wednesday [16 June] and included talks from University of Bristol researchers who discussed some of their latest findings from AMR research projects.

Antimicrobial resistance where bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic infections become resistant to existing antimicrobial drugs is an increasing global societal threat, as there is no matching increase in new antibiotics or new therapies to help treat patients infections.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the pandemic of AMR into sharper focus. Antimicrobial use, which drives the emergence of AMR, increased in many intensive care units around the world, as clinicians mitigated the development of secondary bacterial and fungal infections in acutely ill hospitalised patients. AMR is a slower moving, silent pandemic but requires urgent action now to stop resistance expanding and find drugs to treat these infections.

The GW4 AMR Alliance builds on and enhances the GW4 universities strong and diverse portfolio of AMR research. Its vision is to tackle AMR using a One Health approach and to be the partner of choice for future AMR research consortia funding to help mitigate the urgent threat of AMR.

During the launch, Dr Kristen Reyher, leader of BristolsAMR Forceresearch group at Bristol Vet School, Matthew Avison, Professor of Molecular Bacteriology from Bristols School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and Helen Lambert, Professor of Medical Anthropology at Bristol Medical School, addressed AMR known unknowns as well as the link between climate change and AMR, and presented their latest research findings from projects in Thailand, Argentina and China.

Professor Avison, lead PI of the One Health Drivers of AMR in Thailand (OH-DART)project, discussed the key levers that could be pulled to help mitigate the threat of AMR in the country which, in 2010 was estimated to have caused 38,000 deaths and an economic loss of 1.2 billion US$ per year. This is mostly due to antibacterial resistance (ABR) which is common in bacteria isolated from humans, animals and the environment. He also discussed a recent paper modelling the impacts of antimicrobial usage changes in farming and human medicine.

Dr Reyher presented the latest findings from the Bristol-led One Health Selection and Transmission of Antimicrobial Resistance (OH-STAR) study and their implications for surveillance of AMR on farms, including advice about sampling from the same sites on farms, controlling for temperature in sampling and using a consistent sampling technique.

Professor Lambert, lead PI of the UK-China AMR Partnership Hub STAR-CHINA, discussed the social and cultural drivers which underpin the threat of AMR such as antibiotic prescribing and environmental exposure via water use practices, highlighting the need for interventions that alter AMR transmission pathways to take patterns of human behaviour into account.

Dr Timothy Jinks, Head of the Drug-Resistant Infections Programme at theWellcome Trust, who is delivering the keynote lecture, said: Containing and controlling AMR requires collaborative, long-term, interdisciplinary and sustainable research taking a global One Health approach. It is great news that the GW4 AMR Alliance is launching to increase understanding, development and implementation of effective interventions.

GW4s proven academic excellence in AMR research across disciplines and across institutions is demonstrated by a portfolio of AMR relevant research funding in excess of 40m.

Dr Joanna Jenkinson, GW4 Alliance Director, commented: Our strategic initiative is in total accord with the G7 Health Ministers recent communique (on 4 June) which outlined the need to act on the growing pandemic of AMR with clear leadership, bold science-based actions and a One Health approach, recognising and understanding that the health of humans, animals, plants and their shared environment are inextricably interlinked. The GW4 has fostered collaborative AMR projects at scale to achieve more than our institutions can individually. We are also proud to support our early career researchers (ECR) through our Crucible programme on Interdisciplinary Approaches to AMR and opportunities to apply for seed funding. We are delighted that one new ECR AMR community, further supported by our GW4 Generator Award funding scheme, is contributing a presentation at the launch today on their project to find new antibiotic leads.

AMR disproportionately affects low-and-middle income countries and the research being showcased today demonstrates our global reach with collaborative GW4 projects taking place in Thailand, China, Bangladesh, Argentina, India and here in the UK. GW4 researchers are exploring what drives the emergence of AMR in different settings e.g. the environment (particularly in aquatic systems from industrial and domestic waste), livestock farming, aquaculture and healthcare.

Identifying the drivers of AMR will help to help modify them by informing policy and implementing interventions to mitigate this rising threat. In the UK alone, there was a nine per cent increase in deaths caused by drug-resistant infections between 2017 and 2018.

Chair of the GW4 AMR Alliance, Prof Eshwar Mahenthiralingam (Cardiff University), said: This is a very exciting and timely consortium bringing the considerable AMR research strengths across the GW4 universities together to work as one cohesive unit to drive forward our understanding of, and to develop new interventions for containing and controlling AMR.

About the GW4 AMR Alliance

The GW4 Alliance Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter universities (GW4) are developing initiatives at scale that recognise the combined research strengths of the Alliance. The new GW4 AMR Alliance joins a number of global challenge research programmes (including climate) designed to foster new regional, national and global research partnerships to tackle major global challenges at scale.

The AMR Alliance is taking a One Health approach to tackle the growing threat of AMR. A 12-strong Steering Group draws together key members from the GW4s AMR research community to drive the programme forward, using cross-institutional, synergistic, interdisciplinary research that maximises engagement, translation and impact. The University of Bristol is represented by Professor Matthew Avison (School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Bristol AMR lead), Professor Helen Lambert (Bristol Medical School and UKRI Challenge Leader for Global Health) and Dr Kristen Reyher (Bristol Veterinary School).

About Bristol AMR

TheBristol AMRinterdisciplinary research network is led by a cross-faculty management committee comprising AMR research investigators from all six faculties.

Since 2015, the Bristol AMR research community has received 17.2 million of AMR research funding including grants awarded from the UKRI 'Tackling AMR A Cross-Council AMR initiative'. Funded projects include EPSRC BristolBridge, ESRC AMR Research Champion (Prof Helen Lambert) and three large consortium awards for AMR Themes 2 (BBSRC-led), 3 (NERC-led) and 4 (ESRC-led).

Bristol AMR investigators work across all disciplines to help tackle AMR, including the discovery of new antibiotics, the development of novel antimicrobial materials to prevent infection, rapid diagnostics for AMR, understanding behaviours to promote the responsible use of antimicrobials in healthcare and veterinary medicine, using data linkage to improve the use of antibiotics in healthcare and understanding how different regulatory systems in human and animal healthcare drive global AMR.

Bristol AMR investigators take a global One Health approach and work with collaborators across the UK and in low-and-middle income countries. Projects include an MRC/DoHSC 'AMR in a Global Context' award to study the drivers of AMR in Thailand; two MRC/Newton Fund UK-China Partnership Programmes to identify the key determinants of antimicrobial use and strategies to reduce the burden of AMR in China; a DoHSC GAMRIF/CONICET UK-Argentina awardlooking at future-proofing antibacterial resistance risk management surveillance and stewardship in the Argentinian farming environment; an MRC South Africa-UK Drug Discovery Partnership Hub to find new antibiotics from biodiverse-rich habitats and an EPSRC GCRF funded project to help develop nanoparticle based rapid diagnostics for tuberculosis with collaborators in Kenya.

Bristol also leads the 4 million Medical Research Foundation National PhD Training Programme in AMR Research to train next generation of AMR researchers through its multidisciplinary AMR studentships its national training cohort of 150 PhD students studying AMR across the UK.

More:
June: gw4amr-launch | News and features - University of Bristol

Long-term and deep reprogramming of immune cells

The immune systems response to infection with SARS-CoV-2 has a significant impact on the course of COVID-19 and an overactive immune response is responsible for many serious complications. A new study demonstrates the far-reaching changes that the virus causes in the innate immune system.

The research team about the first author d. Sebastian Theobald of the University Hospital Cologne examined the effect of the spike protein, a typical feature of the coronavirus, on the innate immune system. It turns out that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes profound and long-term reprogramming of macrophages, the researchers wrote. The results of the corresponding study were published in the specialized journal .EMBO Molecular Medicine.

According to the researchers, the reason why some people with an excessive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are still not well understood. Clearly, SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to a massive release of inflammatory signaling substances, called cytokines, that cause severe organ damage in some infected people and lure active defense cells in tissues into a chain reaction. . How the virus releases cytokines has not been clearly established.

For the first time, researchers were able to demonstrate the effect of the spike protein on the innate immune system and found that human defense cells (macrophages, also called scavenger cells) are highly stimulated by the viral spike protein to produce the inflammatory signaling substance. interleukin 1.

However, this was only the case if the macrophages of people with COVID-19 were examined in the trials. The researchers reported that macrophages from people who had not yet been in contact with SARS-CoV-2 did not react by releasing interleukin-1.

Dr. confirms. Jan Riebniker, Head of the Infectious Disease Research Laboratory at the University Hospital Cologne. The expert also sees many starting points here to understand why some people react with an overreaction of the immune system.

Interestingly, macrophages can still be very strongly activated by the sparse protein several weeks to months after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Because macrophages have a very short lifespan of only a few days, this indicates changes in the DNA of the macrophage progenitor cells, explains Dr. Sebastian Theobald. The researchers were also able to demonstrate so-called epigenetic changes through complex sequencing experiments.

The research team continues that profound changes from macrophages to the genetic makeup of cells can now also be used to better understand the long-term consequences of COVID-19. Last but not least, the results of the study are also important in relation to vaccines, as the spike protein plays a major role in these vaccines.

For the success of different vaccine formulations, it is certainly beneficial that the spike protein leads to a strong activation of the innate immune system, says Riebnecker.

In addition, the inflammatory signaling pathway investigated here, which ultimately leads to the release of interleukin-1, is also a potential therapeutic starting point for immune-modulating therapies in severe COVID-19 cycles, and the study provides a scientific basis for this. (fp)

This text complies with the requirements of the specialized medical literature, clinical guidelines and current studies and has been examined by medical professionals.

swell:

important note:This article is for general guidance only and is not intended to be used for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. It cannot replace a visit to the doctor.

Link:
The innate immune system has been deeply reprogrammed - the practice of healing - BioPrepWatch

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Foundation Medicine, Inc. and its collaborators announced today the presentation of new data analyzing the genomic landscape, comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) utilization and treatment patterns among more than 11,000 men with advanced prostate cancer, including 12% with a predicted African genomic ancestry. In what is believed to be the largest known cohort of its kind, researchers found that despite similar rates of actionable gene alterations between men of European and African ancestry, men of African ancestry were less likely to receive CGP early in their treatment course and less likely to be enrolled in clinical trials. These findings highlight the importance of additional factors, beyond inherent differences in disease biology, in potentially driving disparities in outcomes. They also underscore the need to expand access to precision medicine and clinical trial enrollment. Data will be presented during an oral presentation on June 8 at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Virtual Scientific Program (ASCO21).

Prostate cancer incidence and clinical outcomes vary widely across race and ethnicity, and the underlying drivers of these outcomes are multifactorial, including systemic barriers that lead to differences in access to genomic and precision medicine. Men of African ancestry are particularly underrepresented in prostate cancer research. With this study, Foundation Medicine and collaborators at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School explored the interplay between ancestry and patient care.

Men of African ancestry experience the greatest burden of disease in prostate cancer, and this research indicates that differences in cancer care are not solely based on biological factors, but rather points to socioeconomic factors such as access to comprehensive genomic profiling and clinical trial enrollment, said study investigator Brandon Mahal, M.D., Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology and Assistant Director of Community Outreach and Engagement, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. To ensure equitable opportunities for precision medicine, we need to expand access to and awareness of advances that impact patient care and outcomes, including timely use of genomic testing to help make informed treatment decisions.

The study analyzed 11,741 men with advanced prostate cancer who received CGP as part of routine clinical care, along with a subset of 897 patients with real-world clinical data from Foundation Medicine and Flatiron Healths joint clinico-genomic database (CGDB). Results showed that the rates of genomic alterations were largely similar across ancestry, including alterations in BRCA1/2, androgen receptor, DNA damage response pathway genes and actionable genes with therapy implications. Within the CGDB cohort, the proportion of patients receiving immunotherapy and PARP inhibitors was also similar across ancestry. However, men of African ancestry were less likely to receive a clinical study drug than men of European ancestry (11% vs. 30%). Further, men of African ancestry received a median of two lines of therapy prior to CGP, compared to one line of therapy for men of European ancestry, highlighting the extended time from diagnosis to implementation of precision medicine. These factors may potentially impact the genomic landscape, outcomes, and ultimately disparities.

At Foundation Medicine, we strive to better understand barriers at different stages of a patients journey and identify opportunities to mitigate disparities in cancer care. Our study highlights the need for the cancer community to understand and systematically define barriers to care across different populations, especially those traditionally underrepresented in clinical research," said study co-lead Smruthy Sivakumar, PhD, scientist at Foundation Medicine. "The results contribute to our knowledge of comprehensive genomic profiling and real-world data to better understand the barriers patients face in accessing quality cancer care a critical step toward addressing persistent disparities," added Jessica Lee, study co-lead and scientist at Foundation Medicine.

A full list of research being presented by Foundation Medicine and its collaborators at ASCO21 can be found at http://www.foundationmedicine.com/event/asco2021.

About Foundation MedicineFoundation Medicine is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patients cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials. Foundation Medicines molecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visit http://www.FoundationMedicine.com or follow Foundation Medicine on Twitter (@FoundationATCG).

Foundation Medicine is a registered trademark of Foundation Medicine, Inc.

Source: Foundation Medicine

Link:
New Study Results Presented by Foundation Medicine and Collaborators at ASCO21 on Ancestry-Based Disparities in Prostate Cancer Care Underscore...

The goal of deploying two new antiviral drugs to prevent and treat COVID-19 by year end, as set by the UK Government, might not be as far-fetched as it sounds, according to plans and trials already underway said experts in the fields of virology and pharmaceuticals at a media briefing last week.

To meet the Governments challenge, antiviral drugs active against SARS-CoV-2 would most likely be administered orally, intranasally or inhaled; already be at the phase 1 or 2 stage of development or beyond; be for short-term use only; and exhibit targeted anti-viral activity without adversely affecting other parts of the body, said Ruth McKernan, PhD, chair of the BioIndustry Association. "Any drug that has more complicated administration, or has longer use, will have too high hurdles to jump," she highlighted.

A handful of candidate drugs meet these criteria and include favipiravir, niclosamide, iota-carrageenan, and molnupiravir, among others.

Despite a successful vaccination programme in the UK, there remains a pressing need for antiviral drugs to plug the gap between those protected via vaccination and those in whom vaccinations are ineffective, vaccination is contraindicated, or who choose to opt out of vaccination. New variant escape from vaccine protection also presents a threat and is likely to persist for some time to come.

Most pharmaceuticals take around 15 years from concept to market, but this development time is approximately halved in antiviral drugs, said McKernan. "The making of antivirals, along with anti-bacterial drugs has a higher probability of success than most other pharmaceuticals."

She also noted that the availability of human challenge studies where volunteers are purposefully infected with SARS-CoV-2 for study purposes were "hugely enabling" and were key given that case numbers limited the availability of trial volunteers, although there remains the possibility of conducting trials in countries with higher incidence of COVID-19.

Speaking alongside McKernan was Dr Ian Hall, professor of molecular medicine, University of Nottingham. He explained that successful candidate drugs would need to take effect early in disease where the drugs would be more effective. "Essentially, administration would be community based, so as soon as a positive test confirms infection, or as a prophylaxis in people notified as having been in contact with a positive individual. Other likely users will be those who become infected via nosocomial spread in hospitals who often have worse outcomes due to other conditions, and subgroups such as patients with haematological malignancies who typically have worse outcomes."

McKernan added that here in the UK, with government support and enablement, vaccine development had provided a good example of how to expedite manufacturing and supply issues. "This is likewise important for antiviral drugs too. In addition, the MHRA [Medicinesand Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] has also shown how it can evaluate products efficiently. However, she drew attention to maintaining a good testing and contact tracing system. "Antivirals work best early on in disease. If you cant detect, you cant treat, so you need a very good testing system."

In April, the Government announced that it was establishing a new Antivirals Taskforce to identify and deploy innovative, home-based, COVID-19 treatments as early as this autumn. Treatments would be taken after testing positive or being exposed to COVID-19 and would be aimed at reducing transmission and speeding up recovery.

Last Thursday, Eddie Gray, previously president of the European Pharmaceutical Business at GlaxoSmithKline, and CEO of Dynavax Technologies, accepted the role as chair of the new COVID-19 Antivirals Taskforce. "I do think the antiviral programme and the story around antivirals is an important one and has a real contribution to make to the overall response to COVID, and I am looking forward to moving that programme forward," he told journalists in a briefing hosted by the Science Media Centre.

Antiviral agents exert activity at the virus level, potentially interfering at one or more mechanistic stages of viral infection, for example, how the virus enters the cell, amplifies, makes new proteins, repackages itself into new viral particles, or bursts out to infect other areas of the body.

McKernan explained that there are four key ways that an anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug might work, in principle. Firstly, a drug can stop the virus entering the cell by interfering with the two main receptors that permit viral entry the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) 2 receptor and/or the serine protease TMPRSS2 used for S protein priming. Secondly, because the virus needs to make new proteins, drugs can target the protein synthesis pathway of the virus specifically. Thirdly, a drug can target enzymes involved in the assembly of new viral particles called protease inhibitors; and fourthly drugs can interfere with RNA synthesis.

Good laboratory-based assays are also needed to test whether the molecules work, McKernan pointed out. "Its also necessary to have molecules that are as selective as possible so they dont interfere with other processes of the human body, making them safe to use."

Safety is essential and preclinical safety studies cannot be rushed, she stressed. "The duration of drug treatment is instrumental in the assessment of safety. If the duration is 5 days to 2-weeks then the safety hurdles are lower than a drug designed for longer duration of use."

Prof Hall is chair of the UK COVID-19 Therapeutics Advisory Panel (UK-CTAP) antiviral sub-panel. UK-CTAP was set up to advance agents most likely to be effective against COVID-19.

He explained that UK-CTAP had overseen 300 approaches with candidate drugs to tackle COVID-19. "Its impossible to study all of these and take them forward so weve strategically prioritised those drugs which have the greatest chance of success. Weve made 15 recommendations to the CMO [Chief Medical Officer] for trials in COVID-19."

The three leading recommendations are: favapiravir, an antiviral drug used for influenza and similar viruses; niclosamide (an oral antihelminthic drug used to treat tapeworm infections and which has shown activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro); and iota-carrageenan (a seaweed derivative and nasal spray shown to reduce symptoms of cold and flu, which has demonstrated in vitro activity against SARS-CoV-2).

UK-CTAP has considered 150 agents that currently have insufficient evidence to advance to existing clinical platforms, explained Prof Hall.

He also identified a significant challenge going forward. "To take these drugs forward through clinical trials we need to test them on patients with COVID-19. But since the vaccine strategy has been so successful to date the number of cases available is low and without sufficient cases then it is difficult to prove efficacy and pick up rare side effects."If we see escape variants it would be easier to do trials but the need for these drugs would be greater," he added.

Also in the race is molnupiravir (MK4482), a novel antiviral agent being jointly developed by pharmaceutical companies MSD and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics in the phase 3 MOVe-OUT Study.

"Molnupiravir inhibits a critical step in the replication of SARS-CoV-2, other coronaviruses and multiple RNA viruses. Early phase 2 studies show activity against SARS-CoV-2 and we believe it has potential to be a broad spectrum antiviral drug effective against a range of diverse coronaviruses as well as influenza and RSV [respiratory syncytial virus]," said Dr Daria Hazuda,vice president research, chief scientific officer, MSD.

Preclinical models suggest it can block transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Hazuda explained that based on results of a phase 2 study, the phase 3 trial will now focus on outpatient use because the highest efficacy impact on disease was seen in early community-based infection. Results are expected later in 2021.

The Prophylactic Therapy in Care Homes (NIHR-PROTECT-CH) trial platform is assessing two potential antiviral compounds in one of the most vulnerable population groups. PROTECT-CH will recruit 9300 residents across 300 UK care homes.

"Lets remember that 30-50% of COVID-19 deaths have occurred in care homes, but care homes are a highly neglected area of research," remarked Dr Philip Bath, professor of stroke medicine, University of Nottingham and lead researcher for PROTECT-CH.

Prof Bath explained that most virus enters the home with staff, relatives, or friends. Despite an effective vaccination campaign, a back-up and additional plan involving antiviral drugs is needed to prevent and treat cases in care homes. "Our vaccines are around 90% effective against the Wuhan variant but may be less so for the Kent and Indian variant, while reduction of transmission is only around 50%," he said, stressing that "vaccines dont work for everyone, and around 8% of residents and 15% of care home staff are not vaccinated".

Two antiviral drugs versus a control group will be assessed in the PROTECT-CH trial with the aim of preventing hospitalisation and mortality. The names of the trial drugs remain confidential currently, but they both have antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity, one is given by inhaler and the other intranasally.

PROTECT-CH takes a post-exposure prophylaxis approach. "We wait for a confirmed infection in the care home before randomisation (cluster randomisation of the whole care home) and treatment," explained Prof Bath, adding that as a platform, new interventions can be added over time.

The primary outcome is comprised of four-levels: no SARS-CoV-2 infection; SARS-CoV-2 infection but resident remains in care home; hospitalisation, and death.

Saye Khoo, professor of pharmacology and therapeutics, University of Liverpool, also runs a platform in the early phase trial area. He is chief investigator for the AGILE Coronavirus Drug Testing Initiative.

AGILE is in the early phase space up to phase 2 of drug development. "[The programme] takes a lot of potential candidates and advances the most plausible at speed and with rigour," he said. "Its an umbrella off which hang various trials of candidate drugs being tested at the same time. It is largely tuned to look at antiviral drugs mainly the game-changers to advance quickly and reject others."

He added that, "Vaccines do the bulk of heavy-lifting, but antivirals are important in managing the disease."

Prof Khoo drew attention to the threat of antiviral resistance without careful use. "Dont bet against the virus becoming resistant. Mutating is their core business and its how they survived for millions of years. We want to get ahead of this virus."

Prof Hall suggested that combination therapies might help prevent the development of resistance. "We have seen viruses develop resistance to other antiviral drugs. For example, by altering their genetic code, an antiviral becomes resistant to protease inhibitors as seen with hepatitis C or HIV, and here we use a combination of two or three drugs to help overcome that. It is currently, a theoretical risk in the long-term in the same way as we see variants escape from the vaccine."

Hazuda agreed but added that resistance was less likely when using an antiviral for an acute infection compared to use in a patient with chronic disease. "But we cant bet against a virus. When we start a drug development programme, it is in our interest to understand the potential for resistance."

Based on a briefing at the Science Media Centre, London, given on Thursday 27 May, 2021.

Smith and Jones report no relevant financial relationships. OR

Smith reports receiving grant funding from Merck. Jones reports no relevant financial relationships. The study was funded by Merck.

Go here to read the rest:
Headway in the Challenge to Develop Two Antivirals Against COVID-19 This Year - Medscape

Samples from a study suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been re-tested at the World Health Organization's (WTO) request, two scientists who led the Italian research said. There is growing international pressure to learn more about the origins of the pandemic that has killed more than 3 million people worldwide and U.S. President Joe Biden last week ordered his aides to find answers.

The WHO said on Friday experts were preparing a proposal on the next studies to be carried out into the origins of the virus, but that there was no set timeline. The UN body reacted to Biden's announcement that intelligence agencies were pursuing rival theories, including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China, by saying the search was being "poisoned by politics".

COVID-19 was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, while Italy's first patient was detected on Feb. 21 last year in a small town near Milan. However, a study published last year suggested antibodies to either the virus or a variant were detected in Italy in 2019.

That prompted Chinese state media to suggest the virus might not have originated in China, although the Italian researchers stressed the findings raised questions about when the virus first emerged rather than where. "The WHO asked us if we could share the biological material and if we could re-run the tests in an independent laboratory. We accepted," Giovanni Apolone, scientific director of one of the lead institutions, the Milan Cancer Institute (INT), said.

The WHO's request has not previously been reported. "WHO is in contact with the researchers that had published the original paper. A collaboration with partner laboratories has been set up for further testing," a WHO spokesman said.

The spokesman said the WHO was aware that the researchers are planning to publish a follow-up report "in the near future". He said the UN agency has contacted all researchers who have published or provided information on samples collected in 2019 that were reported to have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, but does not yet have the final interpretation of the results.

The Italian researchers' findings, published by the INT's scientific magazine Tumori Journal, showed neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood taken from healthy volunteers in Italy in October 2019 during a lung cancer screening trial. Most of the volunteers were from Lombardy, the northern region around Milan, which was the first and hardest hit by the virus in Italy.

"None of the studies published so far have ever questioned the geographical origin," Apolone told Reuters. "The growing doubt is that the virus, probably less powerful compared to later months, was circulating in China long before the reported cases," Apolone added.

DUTCH TEST The WHO chose the laboratory of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam for the re-test, Emanuele Montomoli, co-author of the original study and professor of Public Health at the Molecular Medicine Department in the University of Siena, said.

The Erasmus University did not reply to requests for comment. Italian researchers sent the team in Rotterdam 30 biological samples from October-December 2019 that they had found positive, 30 samples from the same period they had tested negative and 30 samples from as far back as 2018, negative.

"We sent them blind, that means our colleagues did not know which samples were positive and which negative," Apolone said. "They rechecked our samples with commercial tests, which are much less sensitive than the ones we devised and validated," Montomoli said.

Despite the differences in the two detection methods, both Italian scientists said they were satisfied with the results, delivered to them in late February, adding that they could not comment further until the team of Italian and Dutch scientists have published their findings. "We did not say in our study that we could establish without a doubt that the coronavirus, later sequenced in Wuhan, was already circulating in Italy in October," Montomoli said.

"We only found the response to the virus, namely the antibodies. So we can say that this coronavirus or a very similar one, perhaps a less transmissible variant, was circulating here in October," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Read more:
WHO asks for re-checks of research on when coronavirus first surfaced in Italy - Devdiscourse

IRVINE, Calif. & AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Agendia, Inc., a world leader in precision oncology for breast cancer, announced today that an oral presentation at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting revealed new data from the national FLEX registry that identify differences in tumor biology between ethnic groups that can lead to meaningful treatment decisions, reinforcing the need for appropriate representation of diverse patient populations in breast cancer studies.

A major theme of this years ASCO meeting centers around disparities in care and outcomes, which Agendias FLEX study aims to combat by prospectively enrolling 30,000 patients from various ethnicities, ages and demographic groups representative of the total breast cancer population. The data presentation from this study, Disparities within Luminal breast cancer: clinical and molecular features of African American and non-Hispanic White patients, delivered by first author of the study Kent Hoskins, MD, Co-Leader of the Breast Cancer Research Group and Director of Cancer Genetics at the University of Illinois Cancer Center, details significant biological differences in luminal breast tumors from African American and non-Hispanic White women, suggesting that shared adverse socioeconomic exposures and/or genetic ancestry may be driving disproportionately aggressive tumor biology in African American women. This finding further underscores the need for inclusion of diverse patient groups in clinical trials to ensure equity in drug development.

The data presented at ASCO 2021 show significant transcriptomic differences between Luminal tumors from African American and non-Hispanic White patients, seen even more starkly as our study controlled for age, obesity, and genomic classification, said Dr. Hoskins. The data show ER+ breast cancers in African American women more often had upregulation of the mTOR pathway and cell cycle genes, which require different treatment approaches than other ER+ breast cancers. These data tell us that we desperately need proper representation of diverse populations in clinical trials, and future studies focused on the efficacy of these agents specifically in African American women with breast cancer, so that all patients can benefit from precision medicine, tailored to them, and accounting for their ancestry and genomic profiles.

Additional data from Agendia regarding breast cancer in African American women was shared in an abstract titled Genomic risk classification by the 70-gene signature and 21-gene assay in African American, early-stage breast cancer patients. This study was triggered by recent research showing less accurate prognostic performance of OncotypeDX in African American women with early stage breast cancer. The abstract compared MammaPrint and OncotypeDX results in a cohort of African American women with ER+ breast cancer, and observed an overall discordance of 51% between the two tests in African American patients; notably, of tumors with a TAILORx intermediate risk score (11-25), 61% were classified as MammaPrint High Risk. Combined with previously published data in African American patients, 57% of OncotypeDX low risk score tumors are re-classified as MammaPrint High Risk, suggesting that OncotypeDX results could be less accurate in African American patients.

In addition, recent data indicate that African American patients who receive a low or intermediate OncotypeDX risk score have higher recurrence rates and lower survival than Caucasian patients with early stage breast cancer with the same risk score, a difference that can have meaningful clinical implications and requires further investigation.1

It is essential that genomic tests either work consistently across diverse groups of patients, or have the ability to be calibrated to do so, said Patricia Robinson, MD, Associate Professor of Hematology and Oncology at Loyola University Medical Center, and Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Strich School of Medicine, We cannot be using genomic tests that work for some people and not others, or accepting that the tests, which offer such crucial information, work better for some than for others. While the clinical evaluation of the discrepancy between OncotypeDX and MammaPrint may be ongoing, this data still captures the diversity of pathways driving tumor metastasis, and reinforces the importance of proper representation in trials and in test development and optimization.

Agendias large-scale, prospective FLEX registry continues to highlight data from real-world practices in one of the most flexible and inclusive studies in breast cancer research to date, playing an important part in the companys mission to help guide the diagnosis and personalized treatment of breast cancer for all patients throughout their treatment journey.

About Agendia

Agendia is a precision oncology company headquartered in Irvine, California, committed to bringing patients with early stage breast cancer and their physicians the information they need to make the best decisions for the full treatment journey. The company currently offers two commercially-available genomic profiling tests, supported by the highest levels of clinical and real world evidence, that provide comprehensive genomic information that can be used to identify the most effective breast cancer treatment possible for each patient.

MammaPrint, the 70-gene breast cancer recurrence assay, is the only FDA-cleared risk of recurrence test backed by peer-reviewed, prospective outcome data and inclusion in both national and international treatment guidelines. BluePrint, the 80-gene molecular subtyping assay, is the only commercially-available test that evaluates the underlying biology of a tumor to determine what is driving its growth. Together, MammaPrint and BluePrint provide a comprehensive genomic profile to help physicians make more informed decisions in the pre- and post-operative treatment settings.

Agendia develops evidence-based novel genomic tests and forges partnerships with groundbreaking companies to develop next-generation digital treatment tools. The ongoing research builds an arsenal of data that improve patient outcomes and support the evolving clinical needs of patients with breast cancer and their physicians every step of the way, from initial diagnosis to cancer-free.

Agendias assays can be ordered on core biopsies or surgical specimens to inform pre- and post-operative treatment decisions. For more information on Agendias assays and ongoing trials, please visit http://www.agendia.com.

1 Hoskins, Kent F., et al. Association of Race/Ethnicity and the 21-Gene Recurrence Score With Breast CancerSpecific Mortality Among US Women. JAMA Oncology, vol. 7, no. 3, 2021, p. 370., doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2020.7320.

Visit link:
ASCO 2021 Podium Presentation on Agendia FLEX Study Shows Clinical & Molecular Differences in Tumors of African American and Caucasian Patients...