Epitope identification & clinical immune monitoring in gene therapy & IO programs

Epitope discovery is a crucial element in the development of vaccine candidates and drug therapeutics. In the Immune-oncology space, identifying neoepitopes and tumor-associated antigens provide new targets for cancer diagnostics and enable the tracking of patient responses to treatment. Whereas, monitoring T cell responses to gene therapy vectors and transgenes is important in evaluating efficacy and safety of the treatment. ProImmune provides industry-leading tools for antigen characterization, epitope mapping and immune monitoring. Novel epitopes can be identified by the highly sensitive ProPresent® Antigen Presentation assay, which utilizes LC/MS/MS to determine peptides that are naturally processed and presented. Additionally, the REVEAL® HLA-peptide binding assay eliminates the need for precious patient samples and allows for the screening of multiple proteins for potential T cell epitopes in a matter of weeks. Once the epitopes have been identified, they act as important markers for tracking treatment effectiveness in clinical immune monitoring programs. IFN-γ ELISpots serve as a robust measurement of antigen specific immune responses following patient vaccination and/or treatment, while antigen-specific CD4+ T and CD8+ T cell responses can be enumerated by the ProT2® MHC-Tetramers and Pro5®MHC-Pentamers, respectively. In this presentation, case studies will be shared that detail how ProImmune’s integrated platform has identified novel epitopes in the immune-oncology and gene therapy field and enabled the detection and measurement of functional T cell responses against those epitopes in the clinic.
Emilee Knowlton gained her PhD in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh under the direction of Prof. Charles Rinaldo, identifying immune responses to lytic infection with Human Herpes Virus-8. She joined ProImmune in 2013 after completing her Post Doc in Rinaldo’s lab. She works on the ProImmune team providing innovative solutions for clients that radically improve our understanding of both desired and unwanted immune responses.