Technology Transfer Office
Search
Actualité - Partnership

Institut Curie & OncoDNA test the clinical utility of personalized liquid biopsy in head and neck cancers

04/12/2021
Share
Institut Curie & OncoDNA, a company specialized in precision medicine, announce the launch of a joint research project, to assess the clinical utility of liquid biopsy for head and neck cancer patient monitoring. The OncoFOLLOW™ tests will help monitor disease progression in patients under treatment within the SCANDARE study.
IC & OncoDNA

Institut Curie & OncoDNA, a theranostic and genomic company specializing in precision medicine, announce the launch of a joint research project, to assess the clinical utility of liquid biopsy for head and neck cancer patient monitoring. The OncoFOLLOW™ tests will help monitor disease progression in patients under treatment within the SCANDARE study.

Initiated in 2016 by Institut Curie and coordinated by the scientific coordination cell led by Maud Kamal in the Department of Drug Development and Innovation (D3i), the SCANDARE study aims to incorporate new dimensions to precision medicine. The study consists of integrating microenvironment and immune parameters into the analysis of a tumor along with the molecular alterations of the tumor. As part of this study, Institut Curie has teamed up with OncoDNA to evaluate the utility of liquid biopsy as a tool to monitor disease progression in patients treated for head and neck cancer.

 

Liquid biopsy is a revolutionary tool in oncology. It brings many benefits to oncologists and their patients, particularly through its minimally invasive nature. It enables the surveillance of tumor progression in a patient based on a simple blood sample.

Institut Curie and OncoDNA will analyze nearly 300 plasma samples with the aim of tracking the presence of circulating tumor DNA in patients' blood. The patients will undergo the OncoFOLLOW™ tests at different stages of treatment (surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy). The analyses will focus on tumor-specific mutations and therefore personalize the monitoring of each patient. The tests will follow patients’ response to treatment in real time and will guide the selection of alternative therapies in the event of new mutations. The project will be led by Pr. Christophe Le Tourneau, Head of D3i at Institut Curie, and principal investigator of the SCANDARE study. He declares:

This partnership opens up promising perspectives in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients treated for head and neck cancer. Liquid biopsies could be valuable alternatives to solid biopsies, which are sometimes delicate in this particular disease.

 

OncoDNA is delighted to work alongside Institut Curie to assess the potential of liquid biopsy in the treatment of head and neck cancer. Through this project, we hope to provide new clinical evidence to facilitate the integration of personalized liquid biopsy into routine care and demonstrate the value of OncoFOLLOW™ for the monitoring of individual patients.

adds Dr. Jean-François Laes, Scientific Director at OncoDNA.