First-Of-Its-Kind Lab To Improve Personalized Cancer Therapy Opens In Israel

OncoHost, an Israeli company using response profiling to improve personalized cancer therapy, announced last week it has opened a new state-of-the-art high throughput proteomics laboratory for analysis of host response to cancer treatment.

Proteomics, or proteomic analysis, refers to the systematic identification and quantification of the complete complement of proteins (the proteome) of a biological system at a specific point in time, according to Nature.com.

The lab is the first industrial-level lab aimed at human host response in Israel and joins a select group of specialized proteomics laboratories around the world, the company said in a statement.

The lab, currently operating in research mode, creates proteomic signatures by analyzing more than 1,000 proteins using a very low volume of plasma. The analysis is used for early prediction of response to treatment and examination of the biological processes and key proteins that are associated with a lack of response to treatment.

“Profiling of host response to immunotherapy addresses a major challenge in oncology today – understanding why treatment helps some patients but not others,” said Ofer Sharon, MD, CEO of OncoHost, in a statement. “By combining OncoHost’s proprietary technology with proteomic analysis, we are able to predict how individual patients may respond to treatment. This is the first step towards developing successful personalized cancer treatment plans.”

Founded in 2017, OncoHost uses its PROphet (Predicting Responsiveness in Oncology Patients based on Host response Evaluation during Treatment) platform to identify key biological processes and proteins that drive response in patients undergoing cancer treatment. Their approach also identifies potential targets that may be blocked in order to reduce the host response and improve the patient’s outcome.

“The combination of the new lab, together with our PROphet platform, provides tremendous value and hope for the global oncology community,” said Professor Yuval Shaked, co-founder and chief scientific advisor at OncoHost, and professor of Cell Biology and Cancer Science at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. “There is a pressing need to advance the development of novel therapeutic strategies and rationally-based combination therapies. These capabilities come at the ideal time to address the current challenges of immunotherapy for cancer.”