Institut Pasteur and Myriad RBM Publish Initial Results From Landmark Study of Immune Response
March 20 2014 - 4:00PM
Institut Pasteur and Myriad RBM, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Myriad Genetics, Inc., today announced they have published an
initial data analysis from the landmark Milieu Interieur Project in
the journal Immunity, which provided new insights into the healthy
human immune response. The Milieu Interieur project
(www.milieuinterieur.fr/en) is a population-based study supported
by the French National Ministry of Research and coordinated by the
Institut Pasteur, Paris that will characterize the immune
phenotypes of 1,000 healthy subjects. The results could lead to the
development of novel diagnostics and companion diagnostics.
In the paper titled, "Functional Analysis using Standardized
Whole Blood Stimulation Systems Defines the Boundaries of a Healthy
Immune Response to Complex Stimuli," the authors describe the use
of Myriad RBM's TruCulture® technology, a proprietary blood
collection and culturing system, to characterize individual immune
responses of 25 healthy people to medically relevant stimuli.
Unlike the current laboratory-based methods, TruCulture is
deployed at the site of collection and therefore avoids variability
from shipping and complex processing as well as the expense of a
cell culture facility and staff. The results in the Immunity
paper show that TruCulture stimulations are reproducible, with
close correspondence in repeated tests from the same subject.
"The immune system is highly complex and is responsible for
maintaining healthy conditions in the body. Understanding
responses to stimuli is critical to understanding the origins and
progression of infection, autoimmunity and cancer," said Matthew
Albert, co-coordinator of Milieu Interieur and director of the
Immunology Department at Institut Pasteur. "As a clinical
pathologist and immunologist, I believe it is important to have
immune monitoring tools that reliably measure inflammatory
responses and TruCulture performed exceedingly well. Our
findings will lead to additional studies and possibly new
diagnostic tests for inflammatory, autoimmune, oncological, and
infectious diseases, as well as companion diagnostics for
therapeutics."
In this study, the 27 immune system stimulants were incorporated
into TruCulture to determine how healthy subjects' immune systems
would respond to bacteria, fungi, viruses, therapeutics and
vaccines. Immune responses were measured using protein
biomarkers from Myriad RBM's MAP (Multi-Analyte Profiling)
platform. Analysis of the data reveal a unique pattern of
immune system responses for each stimulant tested that can be
further studied and used to define genetic and/or environmental
causes of natural or disease-induced variations in the human immune
system. For example, the researchers reported that two of the
first 25 subjects evaluated were unable to produce the cytokine
interleukin one alpha (IL-1α) – a protein associated with immune
and inflammatory response – in response to any of the stimuli
evaluated. These types of insights may help explain
susceptibility to a specific disease or predict response to
immune-modulating therapies.
"The TruCulture system reliably profiles the complexity of the
immune system in a simple blood collection and culture tube. We
believe it will usher in a new era for monitoring the immune
response," said Ralph McDade, president of Myriad RBM. "We are
actively pursuing several research collaborations to develop
TruCulture as a novel diagnostic in cancer immunotherapy,
autoimmune disorders and vaccine response."
About Institut Pasteur and the Milieu Interieur
Project
The Institut Pasteur is a private, non-profit foundation. Its
mission is to help prevent and treat diseases, mainly those of
infectious origin, through research, teaching, and public health
initiatives. The Milieu Interieur project is a
population-based study supported by the French National Ministry of
Research and coordinated by the Institut Pasteur, Paris. The
goal of Milieu Interieur is to characterize the immune phenotypes
of 1,000 healthy subjects in response to 32 complex immune
stimulants. Responses to these stimuli in TruCulture are being
assessed using advanced cellular, nucleic acid, proteomic and
metabolic assay technologies. For more information visit:
www.milieuinterieur.fr/en
About Myriad RBM
Myriad RBM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics,
Inc. Myriad RBM's biomarker discovery platform provides
clinical researchers and healthcare providers with reproducible,
quantitative, multiplexed data for hundreds of proteins to advance
drug development and patient care. The Company's proprietary Multi
Analyte Profiling (MAP) technology offers preclinical and clinical
researchers with broad, cost-effective analyses of multiple
proteins from a single, small sample volume. MAP technology
also supports Myriad RBM's drive to develop companion diagnostics
in areas of unmet medical need such as neuropsychiatry, nephrology,
and immunology. More information about Myriad RBM can be found
at www.myriadrbm.com.
Safe Harbor
Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, including statements relating to the Milieu Interieur project
characterizing the immune phenotypes of 1,000 healthy subjects; the
results of the Milieu Interieur project potentially leading to the
development of novel diagnostics and companion diagnostics; the
current findings leading to additional studies and possibly new
diagnostic tests for inflammatory, autoimmune, oncological, and
infectious diseases, as well as companion diagnostics for
therapeutics; insights such as those gained in the current study
helping to explain susceptibility to a specific disease or to
predict response to immune-modulating therapies; the TruCulture
system ushering in a new era for monitoring the immune response;
developing TruCulture as a novel diagnostic in cancer
immunotherapy, autoimmune disorders and vaccine response; and the
Company's strategic directives under the caption "About Myriad
Genetics." These "forward-looking statements" are management's
present expectations of future events and are subject to a number
of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially and adversely from those described in the
forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not
limited to: the risk that sales and profit margins of our existing
molecular diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services may
decline or will not continue to increase at historical rates; risks
related to changes in the governmental or private insurers
reimbursement levels for our tests; the risk that we may be unable
to develop or achieve commercial success for additional molecular
diagnostic tests and companion diagnostic services in a timely
manner, or at all; the risk that we may not successfully develop
new markets for our molecular diagnostic tests and companion
diagnostic services, including our ability to successfully generate
revenue outside the United States; the risk that licenses to the
technology underlying our molecular diagnostic tests and companion
diagnostic services tests and any future tests are terminated or
cannot be maintained on satisfactory terms; risks related to delays
or other problems with operating our laboratory testing facilities;
risks related to public concern over our genetic testing in general
or our tests in particular; risks related to regulatory
requirements or enforcement in the United States and foreign
countries and changes in the structure of the healthcare system or
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infringe the proprietary technologies underlying our tests; the
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services and patents or enforcement in the United States and
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Pathology et al; risks of new, changing and competitive
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"Risk Factors" contained in Item 1A of our most recent Annual
Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, as well as any updates to those risk factors filed from
time to time in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or Current
Reports on Form 8-K. All information in this press release is as of
the date of the release, and Myriad undertakes no duty to update
this information unless required by law.
CONTACT: Myriad Media Contact:
Ron Rogers
(801) 584-3065
rrogers@myriad.com
Myriad Investor Contact:
Scott Gleason
(801) 584-1143
sgleason@myriad.com
Institut Pasteur Media Contact:
Nadine Peyrolo
+33 (0)1 45 68 81 47
presse@pasteur.fr
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