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NanoString Announces Collaboration with National Cancer Institute to Improve Cancer Immunotherapy Biomarker Discovery

June 4, 2018 6:00 AM

SEATTLE, June 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSTG), a provider of life science tools for translational research and molecular diagnostic products, today announced a collaboration with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to facilitate the clinical validation and utility of novel immune-based gene signatures to better inform treatment decisions.

The collaboration supports NCI/CTEP efforts to implement novel strategies to correlate therapeutic treatment with patient response across a range of tumor types by incorporating the PanCancer IO 360TM Gene Expression Panel into select active and future NCI-sponsored clinical trials.

The PanCancer IO360 panel consists of 770 genes and is designed to characterize mechanisms of tumor immune evasion and identify targetable therapeutic pathways by leveraging several gene signatures to describe key biological processes. The panel is designed around the Tumor Inflammation Signature (TIS), an 18 gene signature which measures the presence or absence of a peripherally suppressed adaptive immune response within the tumor that enriches for patient response to a variety of different cancer immunotherapies (Cesano & Warren https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29393888). The panel contains additional gene expression signatures to characterize the presence of immune cells within the tumor microenvironment and key biological activities such as IFN signaling, expression of key immune checkpoint molecules, antigenic burden (DNA mismatch repair status and MAGE expression), antigen processing and presentation, oxygenation/hypoxia, and vascularization.

“We believe that this collaboration presents a unique opportunity to apply in the translational research setting the latest generation of transcriptional profiling tools to NCI-sponsored clinical trials and to accelerate the development and implementation of novel immunotherapies and related diagnostics,” said Alessandra Cesano, chief medical officer at NanoString.

One of the first NCI-sponsored clinical trials to be included in the collaboration is led by Dr. Stephen Hodi. “By expanding the use of gene expression profiling, we may help investigators better understand and potentially predict response to novel immuno-modulatory combinations such as Pembrolizumab + ziv-aflibercept,” said Dr. Stephen Hodi, Director of the Melanoma Center and the Center for Immuno-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

About NanoString Technologies NanoString Technologies provides life science tools for translational research and molecular diagnostic products. The company’s nCounter® Analysis System has been employed in life sciences research since it was first introduced in 2008 and has been cited in more than 2,000 peer-reviewed publications. The nCounter Analysis System offers a cost-effective way to easily profile the expression of hundreds of genes, proteins, miRNAs, or copy number variations, simultaneously with high sensitivity and precision, facilitating a wide variety of basic research and translational medicine applications, including biomarker discovery and validation. The company's technology is also being used in diagnostics. The Prosigna® Breast Cancer Prognostic Gene Signature Assay together with the nCounter Dx Analysis System is FDA 510(k) cleared for use as a prognostic indicator for distant recurrence of breast cancer. In addition, the company collaborates with biopharmaceutical companies in the development of companion diagnostic tests for various cancer therapies, helping to realize the promise of precision oncology. For more information, please visit www.nanostring.com.

About the PanCancer IO360

NanoString’s PanCancer IO 360 Gene Expression Panel is a unique 770 gene expression panel for research use only that combines vital components involved in the complex interplay between the tumor, microenvironment and immune response in cancer allowing for a multifaceted characterization of disease biology and interrogation of mechanisms of immune evasion. Developed specifically for translational research, this powerful new panel incorporates 47 potentially predictive Research Use Only biological signatures including the 18-gene Tumor Inflammation Signature.

Contact:Doug Farrell Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications [email protected] Phone: 206-602-1768

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Source: NanoString Technologies, Inc.

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