Development of an in vitro test format for individualised treatment

Purpose and goal

The purpose of this project has been to identify biomarkers and develop a service offering to be able to predict the choice of medication and monitor dosage for optimal treatment for children with leukemia. Within the project, we have been able to find clear molecular profiles that, above all, correlate well with the occurrence of various side effects of the medication. Such markers can be used by physicians to predict drug induced injuries and provide the opportunity to select alternative treatment options. Work on the service offering continues as it requires a large statistical base.

Expected results and effects

The results we have obtained in this project have strengthened our view of the method we commercialize even further. When the proposal was written, we had limited knowledge of working with clinical samples. We are now continuing this work, partly on this project, and partly in a larger context as we are part of a consortium that has just received funding from the Danish Cancer Society. We also have plans to establish a subsidiary that works specifically with CETSA for clinical diagnostics in other indications.

Planned approach and implementation

When we wrote this proposal we focused much effort on establishing molecular fingerprints in cell models. Although this provided much information on the mechanisms of action of the various drugs, we reasoned that the data would not help us predict differences in treatment outcomes between patients. The work with samples from healthy volunteers allowed us to understand how important the sampling procedure is and when our partner´s ethics application was approved, the work could be redirected to look for links between patients´ molecular profiles and the outcome of their treatment.