Etcembly Partner With University of Surrey to Learn From Long Term Cancer Survivors’ T Cells
Oxfordshire based biotech company Etcembly have announced that it is joining forces with scientists at the University of Surrey to launch a study to identify new immunotherapy targets from cancer survivors. Dr Nicola Annels at the University of Surrey and Professor Hardev Pandha at the Royal Surrey Hospital will collaborate with Etcembly on the project.
The ‘Long Term Survivor Study’ will look at the immune cells of prolonged survivors of cancer. By learning more about these cells, the study hopes to improve the outcomes and range of immunotherapies available for patients in need.
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“Immunotherapy has been transformational in the field of oncology this last decade,” said Hardev Pandha, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Surrey and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust.
“Studying the immune system, and in particular the tumour immune microenvironment, in these responder patients using Etcembly’s approach will be strongly supported by patients to accelerate the development of potent immunotherapies applicable to a wide range of cancers.”
The team are looking for participants that have survived any type of cancer for more than three years. They will look at participants’ T cells, specifically the T cell receptors (TCR) that will have played a vital role in recognising and destroying tumour cells in patients that have fought off cancer.
By analysing cancer survivors’ TCRs, they aim to find novel targets for immunotherapies to treat the disease. Etcembly also intend to use these learnings to build treatments in its own pipeline.
Etcembly will combine their proprietary single-cell sequencing technology, and EMLy, their AI-driven analytical platform, to analyse millions of TCRs and antibodies derived from blood and tumour samples. These samples will have been taken from patients that have had a near or complete response to immunotherapy.
EMLy uses large language models (LLMs) combined with advanced structural modelling to identify TCRs that are effective at killing cancer. Those receptors can then be translated back into the molecules they detect within the cancer cells – therefore identifying new targets for immunotherapies.
Nick Pumphrey, Etcembly’s Chief Scientific Officer, said: “We’re delighted to collaborate with the team at the University of Surrey on this pioneering research project. By studying people who are surviving cancer, we can identify TCRs and targets that have already proven to be effective, giving us a blueprint to develop a new generation of life-saving immunotherapies.”
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