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Papers
Sánchez-Magraner, L., Gumuzio, J., et al. Functional Engagement of the PD-1/PD-L1 Complex But Not PD-L1 Expression Is Highly Predictive of Patient Response to Immunotherapy in Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2023.
Miles, J., et al. Determination of Interactive States of Immune Checkpoint Regulators in Lung Metastases after Radiofrequency Ablation. MDPI Cancers. 2022.
Sanchez-Magraner, L. Quantification of PD-1/PD-L1 Interaction between Membranes from PBMCs and Melanoma Samples Using Cell Membrane Microarray and Time-Resolved Förster Resonance Energy Transfer. Analytica. 2021.
Bortolomeazzi, M., et al. Immunogenomics of Colorectal Cancer Response to Checkpoint Blockade: Analysis of the KEYNOTE 177 Trial and Validation Cohorts. Gastroenterology. 2021.
Larijani, B., et al. Quantification of Biomarker Functionality Predicts Patient Outcomes. British Journal of Cancer. 2021.
Sanchez-Magraner, L., Miles, J., et al. High PD-1/PD-L1 Checkpoint Interaction Infers Tumor Selection and Therapeutic Sensitivity to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 Treatment. Cancer Research. 2020.
Miles, J., et al. Time Resolved amplified FRET Identifies Protein Kinase B Activation State as a Poor Prognostic Marker in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma. BBA Clinical. 2017
Veeriah, S., et al. High-Throughput Time-Resolved FRET Reveals Akt/PKB Activation as a Poor Prognostic Marker in Breast Cancer. Cancer Research. 2014.
Miles, J., et al. The Fusion of Quantitative Molecular Proteomics and Immune-Oncology: A Step Towards Precision Medicine in Cancer Therapeutics. FEBS Letters. 2022.
Larijani, B., and Miles, J. Quantification of Protein-Protein Interactions and Activation Dynamics: A New Path to Predictive Biomarkers. Biophysics Chemistry. 2022.
Case Studies
QF-Pro® has also been validated in several clinical studies. Please view ‘Our Papers’ to see a selection of research outputs which have featured QF-Pro® technology.
QF-Pro® could predict patients’ response to immunotherapy in lung cancer. In a study published in Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2023, we showcased the ability of QF-Pro® to predict patient response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies by directly quantifying the interaction state of this immune checkpoint directly within patient biopsy samples. The results were ground-breaking. QF-Pro® could triple response rates and double overall survival rates compared to the current clinical gold-standard, PD-L1 TPS score.
Determination of Interactive States of Immune Checkpoint Regulators in Lung Metastases after Radiofrequency Ablation. In a novel study, published in the journal Cancers, QF-Pro® quantified the interaction states of PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4/CD80 in radiofrequency ablations (RFA)-treated lung metastases. This was the first time CTLA-4/CD80 interaction states had been spatially quantified in tissue samples, and showcased a potential route to select patients who would benefit from RFA and ICI dual therapy treatments.
QF-Pro® was applied, for the first time, to quantify the interaction states of PD-1/PD-L1 (in cells and FFPE tissues) and CTLA-4/CD80 (in cells). In this study, QF-Pro® technology was validated as a proof of concept for these two interactions showing great sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, QF-Pro® could predict patient overall survival in melanoma and lung cancer. Strikingly, in renal cancer, QF-Pro® outperformed the Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA) technology for the detection and quantification of these interactions.
In this novel experimental set up, we spatially mapped the interaction state of PD-1/PD-L1 between melanoma cells and cell-membrane on tissue microarrays. This showcased the utility of membrane microarrays in combination with the quantification of spatial functional proteomics.
QF-Pro® quantified the activation (phosphorylation) state of the oncoprotein Akt/PKB in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). This provided a prognostic tool capable of predicting overall survival in patients, with those patients with a higher activation state of Akt/PKB showing significantly poorer survival. Akt/PKB was originally discarded as a prognostic biomarker by the scientific community when only its expression was measured. This study exhibited the power of using functional spatial proteomics to map biomarker functionality within samples.
Why HAWK?
What is QF-Pro®?
Learn about Quantifying Functions in Proteins (QF-Pro®) and how our advanced bio-imaging assay can further your research outputs. Find out about how QF-Pro® works and understand which protein functional events it can quantify.
This project has been co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº101161495.
“Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”
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