OncoHost: Nature Reviews Cancer Article Outlines Host Response Analysis as New Tool for Precision Medicine in Oncology

Studying Host Response to Cancer Therapies Offers New Direction for Clinical Priority in Patient Cancer Care

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Oct 31, 2019, 08:30 ET

BINYAMINA, Israel, Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OncoHost, global leader in host response profiling for improved personalized cancer therapy, announced today that a review titled, The Pro-Tumorigenic Host Response To Cancer Therapies now appears in Nature Reviews Cancer.

Authored by Prof. Yuval Shaked, co-founder and chief scientific advisor at OncoHost, and professor of Cell Biology and Cancer Science at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, the piece explores the host-mediated pro-tumorigenic response focusing on immunological, angiogenic and metastatic responses to cancer therapy.

Although the initial treatment phase is often successful in cancer therapy, eventual resistance, characterized by tumor relapse or its spread, is all too frequent. To date, the majority of studies devoted to investigating resistance focus on tumor-related changes that contribute to therapy resistance and tumor aggressiveness. Prof. Shaked analyzes how the unique host response to different cancer therapies may promote therapy resistance. In the review, he summarizes the ongoing literature on this important newly explored research direction, and its clinical implications.

"While chemotherapy treatments are primarily used to minimize and stop cancer growth, a growing body of evidence suggests current cancer treatments can negatively shift the balance within the tumor microenvironment and in fact facilitate or support tumor progression. When the net-outcome is in favor of host pro-tumorigenic effects, it is more likely that the tumor will progress," said Prof. Shaked. "By focusing on host response impact itself, we can improve our understanding of how a given drug or cancer treatment can influence tumor progression to better identify which treatments may result in improved outcomes. Additionally we can determine the possible mechanisms or drug combinations that can delay relapse or progression."

"Despite recent significant progress and clinical success in new immunotherapy modalities, only a small percentage of patients actually benefit from such therapies. Assessing the host response in these patients may help predict outcomes or suggest combination therapy to increase the likelihood of response," said Dr. Ofer Sharon, MD, CEO of OncoHost. "This paper sheds light on the importance of host response within mainstream oncology, and its ability to better identify appropriate cancer treatments, which vary for each individual. OncoHost is gratified to play a key role in transforming this research into insight to help clinicians improve personalized combinatorial drug approaches."

OncoHost combines life-science research and advanced machine learning technologies to provide insight into the host-mediated response of conventional cancer treatments, as well as new treatment modalities including immunotherapy, in order to maximize the individual success of cancer therapy. The company utilizes proprietary proteomic analysis to characterize, analyze and predict patient response to treatment, enabling physicians to determine personalized treatment strategies that result in improved outcomes and reduced side effects.

About OncoHost

OncoHost combines life-science research and advanced machine learning technology to develop personalized strategies to maximize the success of cancer therapy. Utilizing proprietary proteomic analysis, the company aims to understand patients' unique response to therapy and overcome one of the major obstacles in clinical oncology today – resistance to therapy. OncoHost's Host Response Profiling platform (PROphet) analyzes proteomic changes in blood samples to monitor the dynamics of biological processes induced by the patient (i.e., the host) in response to a given cancer therapy. This proteomic profile is highly predictive of individual patient outcome, thus enabling personalized treatment planning. PROphet also identifies potential drug targets, advancing the development of novel therapeutic strategies and rationally-based combination therapies. For more information, visit www.oncohost.com. Follow OncoHost on LinkedIn.

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