Development of Custom Immunobead Assays for Neoantigen-Associated Autoantibodies to Prognosticate Response to Immunotherapy in Advanced Lung Cancer

Jeff Borgia, Ph.D. is the Director of the Rush Cancer Center Biorepository, where he oversees the collection and annotation of patient specimens in support of ongoing translational research projects and clinical trials. As Director of the Rush Biomarker Development Core, his role permits him to facilitate the administration of ‘state of the art’ services aimed at the discovery and development of novel biomarkers, which could potentially alter the clinical treatment decisions for patients. These decisions range from early cancer detection to personalized treatment selection. His presentation will cover the Development of Custom Immunobead Assays for Neoantigen-Associated Autoantibodies to Prognosticate Response to Immunotherapy in Advanced Lung Cancer.
The severe (1-in-4) mortality rate for lung cancer patients underscores this work’s importance. Moreover, improved assay development can help determine treatments that gain time for patients in this advanced stage of disease for which there is no cure. While recent immunotherapies have revolutionized the treatments for lung cancer patients, not every patient benefits from immunotherapies. The PD-1 and PD-L1 complement was the first successful immunotherapy, with immunohistochemistry assessing the expression of the PD-1 biomarker on tumors.
Custom immunobead assay improvements will be discussed, in addition to the significant challenges of biopsies and immunohistochemistry analysis. Immunobead assays that combine analysis of different immune response targets can be developed with a faster turnaround time and customized for variant proteins. Furthermore, while homebrew or DIY assays involve choosing the relevant biomarker combinations when developing multiplex immunobead assays on the Luminex xMAP platform, this approach has great clinical utility and can help stratify lung cancer patients for immunotherapies.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Discuss criteria for improved development of homebrew/DIY immunobead assays for lung cancer.
2. Research and selection of biomarkers to include in building an immunobead assay.
3. Consideration of analytical characteristics of biomarkers to ensure a compatible multiplex.