Precision Medicine

Comprehensive diagnostics that can determine the biomarkers characterizing the disease are essential for precision medicine. As these diagnostics must always be carried out on individual patients, the term personalized medicine is often used, although treatment planning is based on known therapeutic agents with the best prognosis for the tumor being analyzed, for example.

The characteristic markers for tumor treatment are often identified in clinical studies, which look for conspicuous changes in different patient groups compared to healthy individuals on a genome-wide level. Methods of artificial intelligence, which are predestined to identify these changes or biomarkers, are increasingly being used here.

At Fraunhofer IGB, we develop bioinformatic and biochemical methods with which characteristic biomarkers tumor diagnostics can be clearly determined. For example, we use next-generation sequencing technology at the institute to identify new biomarkers for improved diagnosis of prostate cancer or pancreatobiliary cancers at the nucleic acid level.

Our knowledge of tumor development and its defense mechanisms against our immune system enables the development of new immuno-oncological forms of therapy. At Fraunhofer IGB, we are developing immunomodulating oncolytic viruses to fight cancer.

Oncolytic viruses are viruses that – directly or indirectly – kill tumor cells. They can infect and lyse tumor cells and generate an immune response against specific tumor antigens through the resulting inflammatory reaction. In addition to this direct effect, they can also be used to introduce so-called tumor suppressor genes into tumor cells. These genes cause the immune system to recognize the aberrant cells and subsequently eliminate them.

The development of ever better in-vitro disease models also enables more efficient drug development and therapy planning. Animal models used to date are often not suitable for high-precision therapeutics, as the differences between animals and humans are usually too great. The reconstitution of diseased tissue, possibly even with the patient cells themselves, enables improved therapeutic success by selecting the most suitable therapeutic agent, but also more efficient drug development for new precision therapeutics.

3D tissue models can also be used to better identify potential side effects, and even to test to the safety of chemicals of all kinds. Some of these so-called NAMs (new approach methods) are already available at Fraunhofer IGB and are being continuously developed further.