Projet Epine: testing receptivity to immunotherapy
Researcher atInsermJulien Faget heads the Epine project, aimed at developing predictive tests capable of determining whether lung cancer patients will be receptive to immunotherapy treatment. A promising avenue, and a considerable time-saver when it comes to setting up protocols, as this treatment is only effective in 30% of cases.
Currently in the launch pad of the Pôle universitaire d'innovation(PUI), the Epine project could give immunotherapy research a major boost. Spearheaded by Julien Faget, head of research at the Montpellier Regional Cancer Institute(IRCM), the project has just been approved by the jury of the Montpellier Innovation Booster(BIM), one of the PUI's flagship tools designed to promote scientific discoveries and create links between researchers and the business world.
A blind spot
The story of this project begins at the edge of a scientific impasse. Every year in France, around 40,000 people develop lung cancer. Since 2011, immunotherapy has shown promise for patients who cannot be cured by chemotherapy. The idea is to remove the brakes on the immune system, so that it can attack the diseased cells... "The immune system is like a big monster that spends all its time getting angry, but is kept on a leash. The idea is to cut this leash to make it more aggressive. The diseased cells will then be the first to be killed. With immunotherapy, we use the patient's own resources to fight the cancer," explains Julien Faget.
Although this treatment can work miracles, only a third of patients are receptive to it. " But today, oncologists have no way of knowing at an early stage whether it will work or not. And it is precisely this blind spot that Julien Faget is in the process of resolving. Both so that oncologists can adapt treatments as early as possible, and so that future drug candidates can eventually be tested on patients who are already known to be receptive to them...
First in the world
Julien Faget has already helped to unravel part of the problem. Through research conducted in the late 2010s, he came to understand that the presence of "neutrophil" cells in the lungs plays a major role in treatment efficacy. "When there is an alteration in the patient's bones, neutrophils move to the lungs and enter the tumor. It is these neutrophils that prevent the treatment from working", he explains. The second part of the problem is to find an ingenious way of examining these white blood cells in a hospital setting, without delay.
In his laboratory at the IRCM (Inserm), Julien Faget and his two colleagues applied their strategy to some sixty test patients. The team started with 850,000 parameters to test. After several years of research, the spectrum has been narrowed down to just six, and current trials have an efficacy rate of over 90%. Julien Faget assures us: "We're going to work even harder to be better. We're not the only ones working on neutrophils, but we're the first in the world to have a test capability that can be transposed to the clinic on the day of diagnosis".
Bringing something concrete to society
Thanks to the BIM and the 20,000 euro budget allocated to them, Epine is in the process of recruiting a new engineer to carry out new tests and validate their results. This new step gives them access to a cohort of 150 patients from the Montpellier Regional Cancer Institute and 45 patients from the University Hospital. At the same time, the project is enabling Julien Faget to work on the creation of a start-up in collaboration with an industrial company. "The economic players and the BIM are convinced that we have an idea that can bring something concrete to society in a short space of time. But it's another job, and we need help to do it properly while continuing our research work." In the process of being patented via Inserm Transfert, the innovative Epine test could be operational within three years.
He is also currently involved in the development of a new drug candidate. This collaboration is still in gestation, but should ultimately boost the emergence of new treatments. "By 2026, the immunotherapy market will be worth 64 billion euros a year worldwide. In France, the figure will be 4 billion euros, but only 1.5 billion will benefit patients. The other three billion expose them to side effects and deprive them of an effective strategy", he argues.
Julien Faget, former BIM winner, will speak at the Booster innovation Montpellier" webinar on December 10, 2024, to share his experience and exchange views with participants.