Peptide Microarray in Cancer Neoepitope Discovery

Focusing on neoepitope is a new and promising strategy for cancer vaccine development. In order to determine tumor-specific neoepitopes, various prediction algorithms were developed, but experimental validation is still the most critical step. Creative Biolabs has a full range of services from neoepitope prediction to experimental validation. We creatively use peptide microarray to analyze neoepitope and achieve high-throughput and efficient validation, which will be a huge advancement in cancer vaccine development.

Cancer Neoepitope

Clinical data have fully demonstrated the important role of T cells in controlling a variety of human cancers. But the question of how the immune system distinguishes between tumor cells and non-tumor cells is still inconclusive. The emergence of various technologies has made it possible to analyze the response of the immune system to individual-specific neoantigens. The cancer-specific neoantigen is encoded by a mutant gene of a tumor cell and has a unique protein sequence. Because these antigens are completely new to the human body, T cells do not undergo negative selection for these sequences. It is thus possible to specifically kill tumor cells expressing such antigens and avoid damage to normal tissues. Based on this principle, neoantigen has become a hot spot for cancer immunotherapy. The cancer vaccine targeting neoantigen and related combination immunotherapy have been launched one after another. Therefore, the main problem now is how to determine the effective neoepitope.

Peptide Microarray in Cancer Neoepitope Discovery

With the application of neoantigen to tumor vaccines and related immunotherapies, there is an urgent need for the discovery and determination of neoepitope. Using a predictive algorithm, the potential neoantigen is determined by changes in the amino acid sequence obtained by sequencing. However, the new concern is that the immunogenicity of neoepitope based merely on the analysis of antigen processing and presentation does not seem to be insured. Therefore, the predicted neoepitopes also require experimental validation to ensure that it is recognized by the immune system. By comparing the response of a patient receiving a treatment regimen to a non-recipient to neoepitope, it is helpful to find biomarkers that will drive the development of cancer vaccines and corresponding immunotherapies. The peptide microarray technology developed by Creative Biolabs provides a concrete and feasible solution to these needs.

To put it simply, we use the neoepitope predicted from the SepaMatrix algorithm (efficient, accurate epitope prediction algorithm developed by Creative Biolabs), or the neoepitope in the database or the sequence obtained from the sequencing to make the peptide microarray. The prepared peptide microarray is co-incubated with serum from cancer patients and control patients, and then the array is scanned, and the results of the analysis are used to determine the profiles of neoepitope that could respond to antibodies in the serum of cancer patients.

Fig.1 Workflow for the peptide microarray in discovering cancer neoepitope.

Features of our Peptide Microarray in Discovering Cancer Neoepitope

• High resolution and high throughput
• Rich in content, including predicted neoepitopes, sequencing results, and custom peptides
• Adjustable scale
• Cost-effective
• Powerful data analysis services

Creative Biolabs has been concentrating on the vaccine field for more than a decade. In this continuous effort, we leveraged the strengths of our professional research team to fully absorb and creatively optimize and utilize existing technologies, of which peptide microarray technology is an outstanding representative. We therefore constantly developing ideal vaccine-related products and services to help customers around the world conduct their research smoothly.

All of our products can only be used for research purposes. These vaccine ingredients CANNOT be used directly on humans or animals.