SEATTLE, July 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SEngine Precision Medicine, a precision oncology company revolutionizing cancer diagnostics and drug discovery by pre-testing drugs on patient-derived tumor organoids, today announced that data supporting the clinical utility of the PARIS® Test was highlighted in a prospective study in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with peritoneal metastases (CRPM). Researchers from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia, Columbia University in New York, NY, SEngine Precision Medicine, and other centers published the findings in a paper, entitled “Medium-throughput drug screening of patient-derived organoids from colorectal peritoneal metastases to direct personalized therapy” in AACR’s peer-reviewed Clinical Cancer Research (10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-0073). The authors concluded that utilizing the PARIS® Test can guide novel therapeutic choices in this poor prognosis patient population and the platform is relevant to many solid organ malignancies.
The aim of the study was to determine whether the PARIS® Test, utilizing patient-derived organoids ex-vivo, could help guide precision treatment for CRPM patients, as the clinical utility of prospective, functional drug screening, including non-standard agents, was unknown. In the study, CRPM organoids (peritonoids) isolated from patients underwent parallel next generation sequencing and drug panel testing utilizing the PARIS® Test to identify specific drug sensitivities for each patient.
Peritonoids were successfully generated and validated from 68% (19/28) of patients undergoing standard of care. A report ranking drug sensitivities based on the PARIS® Test was provided to the medical oncology team upon failure of standard of care treatment, and resulted in a change of treatment for two patients.
Vignesh Narasimhan, MD, PhD, Colorectal Fellow in the Department of Surgical Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Center and first author of the peer-reviewed study said, “In this study, we showed that the tools and techniques exist to grow, propagate, transport and analyze living tumor samples and define each patient’s individual drug sensitivities. These advances will lead to a better understanding of cancer, inform practice and most importantly, help our patients.”
Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD, Hematologist, Oncologist and Professor in Department of Medicine at Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Pulitzer Prize winning author, and member of SEngine’s Scientific Advisory Board stated, “This study paves the way for a new approach in cancer treatment that is evidence based, providing value to patients, oncologists and payers. I am optimistic and hopeful that as additional clinical studies will demonstrate the clinical utility of phenotypic testing, organoid-guided therapies will be mainstream in clinical practice.”
Carla Grandori, MD, PhD, co-founder and CEO of SEngine Precision Medicine said, “Each patient’s cancer is a unique mosaic created by combinations of genetic and epigenetic alterations, and its complexity makes it difficult to translate this information into therapies. By directly testing oncology drugs on each patient’s cancer, the PARIS® Test can identify personalized cancer therapeutic choices for greater than 70% of patients, and the data gathered will help to decode the complexity of cancer.”
About PARIS® Test
The CLIA certified PARIS® Test is based on the capability to propagate patient-specific cancer tissue as organoids ex vivo and is applicable to all solid tumors including colon, breast, lung, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Organoids are cancer-derived cells grown in 3D outside the body, which maintain the functionality of the original tumor as well as its genomic characteristics. For cancers where the path is not clear, such as many metastatic and recurrent cancers, the PARIS® Test provides crucial information to the treating physicians to match the right drug to the right patient.
About SEngine Precision Medicine
SEngine Precision Medicine Inc. is a precision oncology company revolutionizing cancer diagnostics and therapies by pre-testing drugs on patient-derived organoids grown ex-vivo utilizing patient specific tumor cells. As a spin-out from the world-renowned Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, SEngine is leveraging over two decades of R&D in diagnostics and drug discovery. The Company is commercializing the PARIS® Test, a next generation diagnostic test that predicts drug responses integrating knowledge of cancer genomics with organoids, robotics, and AI-driven computational tools. SEngine’s CLIA certified PARIS® Test generates predictive drug sensitivity reports for patients with solid tumors. SEngine is also pursuing drug discovery via strategic collaborations with biopharmaceutical / pharma companies leveraging its precision oncology platform.
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Stephanie Carrington
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