In an ongoing collaboration between myNEO Therapeutics and Radboud University Medical Center, novel neoantigens arising from non-coding regions are being investigated that are shared among prostate cancer patients. An in-house developed machine learning algorithm, smORFin, was applied to identify translatable small open reading frames (smORFs).

SmORFs generating micro-peptides, and potentially neoantigens, serve as novel promising targets for personalized immunotherapy. Combined with the expertise of Prof. Dr. Jack Schalken and his team, this novel approach has led to promising initial discoveries that have been validated already in lab experiments. Next steps in the collaboration will be to further validate these targets in clinical samples, investigate the biological principle behind these potential targets, and evaluate their clinical use. Due to its innovative technology, myNEO Therapeutics is continuously discovering and evaluating novel epitopes that could drive novel immunotherapies among cancer patients.