Paris — One Biosciences reported study results showing that its OneMap platform can generate single-cell RNA expression profiles from routine pathology specimens used in cancer care.
The study evaluated formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples from four institutions and included 88 specimens across bladder, breast, colon, lung, ovarian and pancreatic cancers.
The findings were released as a preprint on bioRxiv.
One Biosciences said the sample-to-report workflow uses standard pathology slides, requires only a small amount of tissue and produces a standardized report for individual patients.
“Every tumor is a unique ecosystem of many different types of cells, some cancerous, some not,” said Dr. Helena Yu, a thoracic medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
“Single-cell profiling enables us to understand what those cells are, what they’re doing and potentially how that may impact treatment outcomes,” Yu added.
The research was conducted with collaborators from Centre Léon Bérard, Hôpital Bichat–Claude Bernard, Institut Curie and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
The study included 88 single-nucleus sequencing experiments, including 36 core biopsies, and was designed to reflect the variety of tumor and sample types encountered in clinical practice.
Researchers found that the assay produced reproducible measurements of cellular composition and gene expression resolved by cell type.
The median correlation in cell-type proportions across replicate samples exceeded 0.92, according to the company. Automated estimates of immune-cell infiltration also closely matched pathologists’ assessments of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.
The workflow was successfully used on archived tissue blocks that were about a decade old and on biopsies containing very small amounts of tissue. It also measured clinically relevant targets for antibody-drug conjugates.
The assay uses single-nucleus RNA sequencing to measure gene activity within individual cells found in thin tissue sections prepared for standard pathology analysis.
OneMap, the company’s artificial intelligence-powered software platform, identifies the cells present in a sample, analyzes their activity and produces a standardized report.
“One-cell analysis is a valuable addition to current molecular profiling, revealing important information about a tumor that standard tests cannot,” said Dr. Vincent Miller, Executive Chairman of One Biosciences.
“This study validates our approach, which runs on ordinary pathology slides every hospital already produces, needs only a fraction of the tissue, and returns a standardized report for one patient at a time,” Miller added.
Traditional tumor diagnostics generally measure signals averaged across large numbers of cells, which can obscure smaller cell populations that may contribute to treatment resistance.
Single-cell profiling analyzes individual tumor and immune cells and could provide additional information for clinical trials and treatment selection.
One Biosciences said ongoing studies will examine whether single-cell profiles can improve the identification of patients most likely to benefit from particular therapies.
