SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., September 22, 2022 – Mission Bio, Inc., the pioneer in high-throughput single-cell DNA and multi-omics analysis, today announced the first findings by researchers using its new Tapestri® Single-cell Multi-omics Measurable Residual Disease (scMRD) assay, as researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) discovered subclonal co-mutations and immunophenotypic profiles that can distinguish individual cells indicative of future acute myeloid leukemia (AML) relapse from others present after treatment. Because it is uniquely capable of both high sensitivity and specificity, the scMRD assay can distinguish between leukemic, preleukemic and hematopoietic clones, and between donor and host cells following bone marrow transplantation. The findings have the potential to be applied to improve treatment prognostics, guiding doctors on patient need for a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, with future implications for both patient stratification in clinical trials and patient care — impacting disease surveillance, therapeutic selection, and patient outcomes.
About half of all patients with AML relapse within a few years of their first treatments[1]. Currently, flow cytometry and single gene testing, and bulk next-generation sequencing are used to detect the presence of measurable residual disease (MRD). However, even if both tests come back negative, many patients will still relapse. Mission Bio’s scMRD technology is designed to improve upon these assays by integrating DNA mutation and immunophenotypic signatures for each cell individually, enabling quantitative analysis of leukemia cells that may have gained new mutations causing treatment resistance or changed their immunophenotype from the start of the disease.
Researchers from the lab of Ross Levine, MD, Deputy Physician in Chief for Translational Research at MSK, used the assay to study the clonal architecture of cells that survived initial AML therapy. In data presented at Mission Bio’s Tapestri® scMRD for AML Summit and in a paper posted on BioRxiv, the researchers illustrated several findings that could impact the predictive power of scMRD. For example, in patient samples drawn following chemotherapy, Levine’s team found the scMRD assay detected clinically relevant variants missed by bulk next-generation sequencing. Additionally, the researchers tapped the multi-omic capabilities of the assay to characterize both the mutational profile and immunophenotype of single cells and to illustrate the clonal architecture distinguishing leukemic clones from preleukemic clones and hematopoietic clones. Full publication of the data is forthcoming.
“We believe these findings are key to improving how patients are treated for leukemias and other cancers where MRD is relevant,” said Todd Druley, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer of Mission Bio. “Partnering with both top academics like Ross’s team at MSK and industry partners for studies like this will be critical in establishing MRD as a surrogate endpoint, to one day incorporate into clinical trials and practice. It paves the way for not just predicting relapse but preventing it, by identifying high-risk clones for early eradication.”
This summer, Mission Bio announced a program to give pioneering cancer researchers and biopharma partners early access to its reasearch-use-only scMRD assay for AML, which uses the Tapestri® Platform to identify single point mutations, copy number variants and structural lesions in DNA and immunophenotype data from the same cells. Through Mission Bio’s early access program, researchers, contract research organizations, and biopharma companies can utilize the scMRD assay for AML for proof-of-concept study research programs ahead of full-scale commercialization. For more information, visit https://go.missionbio.com/scMRD-AML-EA.
[1] Relapse in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). Leukaemia Care (2019).
About Mission Bio
Mission Bio is a life sciences company that accelerates discoveries and cures for a wide range of diseases by equipping researchers with the tools they need to better measure and predict our resistance and response to new therapies. Mission Bio’s multi-omics approach improves time-to-market for new therapeutics, including innovative cell and gene therapies that provide new pathways to health. Founded in 2014, Mission Bio has secured investment from Novo Growth, Cota Capital, Agilent Technologies, Mayfield Fund, and others.
The company’s TapestriⓇ platform gives researchers around the globe the power to interrogate every molecule in a cell together, providing a comprehensive understanding of activity from a single sample. TapestriⓇ is the only commercialized multi-omics research platform capable of analyzing DNA and protein simultaneously from the same sample at single-cell resolution. The TapestriⓇ Platform is being utilized by customers at leading research centers, pharmaceutical, and diagnostics companies worldwide to develop treatments and eventually cures for cancer.
Media Contacts
Consort Partners for Mission Bio
