BioCytics, Inc., a North Carolina-based biotechnology company, and LIDE Biotech, a China-based biotechnology company, announced on Thursday the formation of a strategic alliance to develop advanced screening platforms and companion diagnostics for immune-based cancer cell therapies.

This collaboration combines BioCytics' specialised cell manufacturing capabilities with LIDE's patient-derived xenograft technologies (PDX, miniPDX, and IO-based PDX models) to streamline the development of immuno-oncology (IO) treatments.

The initial project based on the companies' recently-executed Memorandum of Understanding will involve the creation of murine PDX models using human biospecimens from ethically consented patients on an institutional review board-approved BioCytics tumour and immune cells collection study (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT00571389) that opened in 2007 and is still ongoing. These tumour models can then be used to observe a number of critical responses, such as drug resistance or induced cell death, for cells being treated in in vivo validation studies.

Further model studies will involve DNA and RNA sequencing for additional response research such as human anti-tumour immune cell function.