Community-wide Consensus Process Generates a Framework for Reporting of T-cell Experiments in Clinical Immunology
MAINZ, Germany and
NEW YORK, July 26, 2012/PRNewswire/ --
Increasing
transparency and quality of immune response measurements
The Association for
Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT) Immunoguiding Program (CIP) and the
Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC) of the Cancer Research
Institute (CRI) today announced the publication of a letter in
Immunity discussing the results of an unique vetting process that
involved multiple international groups and individuals and has now
led to publication guidelines that increase transparency of immune
response assessments.
The finalized Minimal
Information About T Cell Assays (MIATA) project, which provides a
guiding framework for reporting T cell experiments in human
translational monitoring studies, has been published in the current
issue of Immunity released on July 26th, 2012. The project was
announced in the same journal in 2009, and has since then undergone
two public consultation periods and workshops that led to the
current, final guidelines that integrate the feedback of more than
120 contributors. "This was one of the most intense vetting
processes conducted in the field of immunology," states lead author
Cedrik Britten from Translational Oncology at the University
Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz,
Germany.
The MIATA project
included scientists from different fields of immunology, a
pre-requisite for broad acceptability among peers. The publication
of the final guidelines marks an important milestone for the
project, which will now focus on the implementation of MIATA in
regular practice. The co-leading author, Sylvia Janetzki from
ZellNet Consulting, Fort Lee, NJ, USA, adds that more work is
needed including talks with peers as well as journals and editors
to make MIATA a common practice when publishing immune monitoring
data. Various journals have already expressed interest in the
project.
During the past five
years, the utilization of multi-parameter assays to study T cell
functions has increased steadily. Many assays have been developed
and used for basic research purposes as well as for clinical
trials. Each assay platform has been developed to address the
characterization of T cell populations responsible for immune
protection from infectious pathogens and cancer.
"Manuscripts
reporting relevant observations in this field have flourished and
more and more complex analyses have been developed. In this
context, it has become increasingly important to diligently
structure the information that should be provided for experiments
to be reproducible whether in basic research or in clinical
trials," remarks Guido Ferrari from Duke University Medical Center,
whose work is focused on HIV immunology.
Mark Davis from
Stanford University in California has taken a leading role in the
project and remarks that this project compliments the systematic
efforts to human immunology he is spearheading. The Human Immune
Monitoring Center in Stanford has started applying immunological
assays in large cohorts of healthy individuals and patients with
the goal to identify immune signatures that may lead to new
diagnostics and therapeutics. The MIATA guidelines offer valuable
tools to harmonize various patient cohorts, immune assays,
databases and their analyses for discovery, validation and
screening of immune correlates of disease heterogeneity,
progression and therapeutic intervention.
"This, no doubt, will
prove to be of enormous value in a wide range of disciplines in
clinical medicine, including cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory
diseases, infection, and transplantation," says Bart O. Roep,
Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden The Netherlands, a leading
immunologist in the field of autoimmunity, who has been setting
world-wide standards for immune assessments and is a MIATA core
team member.
"The broad
collaborative effort on which MIATA was built also signifies a
relevant increase in connectivity and collaboration across the
immunotherapy and immunology communities," says Axel Hoos, Head of
Combination Therapy Development at GlaxoSmithKline Oncology and
Co-Director of CRI's Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium. "In serving
these communities, MIATA is a critical part of our systematic
effort to create new tools and methods for improving immunotherapy
investigation known as the Immuno-Oncology Framework. It is
designed to enhance development of new immunotherapies and
characterization of biomarkers for identification of target
populations," says Hoos.
All information
pertaining to MIATA including all feedback received from the field
is transparently displayed on the project's website:
http://www.miataproject.org. The website also contains the
finalized guidelines, important tools, examples, and a checklist
that support the easy implementation of MIATA into a scientist's
publication activities.
References:
C.M. Britten, S.
Janetzki, L.H. Butterfield, G. Ferrari, C. Gouttefangeas, C. Huber,
M. Kalos, H.I. Levitsky, H.T. Maecker, C.J.M. Melief, J.
O'Donnell-Tormey, K. Odunsi, L.J. Old, T.H.M. Ottenhoff, C.
Ottensmeier, G. Pawelec, M. Roederer, B.O. Roep, P. Romero, S.H.
Van der Burg, S. Walter, A. Hoos, and M.M. Davis, T Cell Assays and
MIATA: The Essential Minimum for Maximum Impact, Immunity (2012),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2012.07.010
About the Association
for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT)
The Association for
Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT) is an international networking and
education platform aiming to facilitate the development of new
immunotherapies against cancer for the benefit of patients. CIMT
was founded in 2002 as a nonprofit association, and has its home
office in Mainz, Germany. With more than 600 participants, CIMT
hosts the largest European expert meetings on cancer immunotherapy,
and has established two topic-specific working groups: the CIMT
Regulatory Research Party, focusing on the regulatory aspects of
drug development, which is pioneering the regulatory framework of
actively personalized vaccines for single patient use only; and the
CIMT Immunoguiding Program (CIP), which focuses on the quality
control and harmonization of immunomonitoring assays. To reach its
goals, CIMT closely cooperates with various partners, among them
the Cancer Research Institute's Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium
(CRI-CIC). Visit http://www.cimt.eu for more information.
About the Cancer
Immunotherapy Consortium of the Cancer Research Institute
The Cancer
Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC), a program of the nonprofit Cancer
Research Institute, is an international association of more than
100 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic
institutions that share a common interest in immunotherapy research
and development.
CIC's mission is to
improve patient care by making cancer immunotherapies part of the
standard-of-care in oncology. CIC provides a platform that allows
its stakeholders to advance the field by working together to
achieve solutions to scientific and developmental challenges
creating a single and powerful voice within the biomedical research
community. From these collaborative, community-wide efforts, CIC
together with its partners has developed and published a number of
landmark recommendations for practical solutions to key challenges
in the field known as the Immuno-Oncology Framework, including the
development of new immune related response criteria, clinical trial
endpoints for evaluation of cancer immunotherapy impact on patient
health, and criteria for harmonization of immune monitoring
assays.
About the Cancer
Research Institute
The Cancer Research
Institute (CRI), established in 1953, is the world's only nonprofit
organization dedicated exclusively to transforming cancer patient
care by advancing scientific efforts to develop new and effective
immune system-based strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat, and
eventually cure all cancers. Guided by a world-renowned Scientific
Advisory Council that includes three Nobel laureates and 30 members
of the National Academy of Sciences, CRI has invested more than
$225 million in support of research conducted by immunologists and
tumor immunologists at the world's leading medical centers and
universities, and has contributed to many of the key scientific
advances that demonstrate the potential for immunotherapy to change
the face of cancer treatment.
To accelerate the
pace of progress in the field, CRI convenes and coordinates global
collaborations among academics, industry scientists and decision
makers, regulatory representatives, and health research
associations focused on discovery, development, and refinement of
new cancer immunotherapies. A founding visionary and scientific
leader in tumor immunology, CRI is helping to shape the emerging
field of immuno-oncology, and is ushering in a new era of medical
progress to bring more treatment options to cancer patients
sooner.
Contact:
Christine S. Castle
Communications Director
Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT)
+49(0)6131-178166
castle@cimt.eu
Brian M. Brewer
Director of Marketing & Communications
Cancer Research Institute
+1-212-688-7515, ext. 242
bbrewer@cancerresearch.org
Source: Association for Cancer Immunotherapy and Cancer Research Institute
Posted: July 2012
