Our science

It’s time to change the way we treat cancer

Calviri frameshift peptides

Transforming the approach to cancer

A new class of diagnostic and vaccine products
Calviri’s approach can provide both cancer diagnostics and vaccines. It is based on the discovery of an unrecognized source of frameshift neoantigens. These immunogenic peptides are generated from very frequent errors in tumor-cell RNA synthesis and processing. They provide both cancer specific and shared frameshift neoantigens for a new class of diagnostic and vaccine products.

We are working to completely rewrite the approach to cancer. We aim to accelerate the current unacceptable, incremental and expensive progress in the field, with truly transformational technologies that can benefit people worldwide.

By leveraging previously unrecognized sources of frameshift neoantigens we are working to revolutionize early cancer diagnosis with easy to use and home collection, rapid, powerful screening platforms, while developing novel targeted cancer therapeutic vaccines and game changing preventative vaccines.

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Our key frameshift peptide insights and discoveries

1

Frameshift peptides

Frameshift peptides are very immunogenic neoantigens and therefore very important for developing effective vaccines and diagnostics
2

Rich source of neoantigens

Errors in RNA synthesis and processing by tumor cells are a far richer source of neoantigens than errors in DNA synthesis
3

Immune responses

Arrays of frameshift peptides can directly readout an individual’s immune responses to tumor neoantigens

How this works for cancer patients

In cancer patients, the immune system recognizes the frameshift neoantigens as foreign and antibodies are generated against them. A patient’s blood is applied to a microarray displaying peptides corresponding to all frameshift neoantigens that could be generated by errors occurring at the RNA synthesis and processing level. If antibodies from patients consistently bind to a set of arrayed-peptides, they may serve as a test to diagnose cancer. These neoantigen-peptides bound by patient antibodies can serve as compositions for both therapeutic and preventative vaccines.

Further insight

Tumor cells make RNA processing errors that shift translational reading frames and generate neoantigens

The aberrant peptides are neoantigens, stimulating specific antibody production

Neoantigens produced by a patient can be determined by probing a frameshift peptide array with a small sample of their blood

WATCH: Kathryn Sykes, Co-Founder and Vice President of Research and Product Development at Calviri, discusses the technology Calviri is using to develop products for early detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer.

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Application of our frameshift peptide science

We have discovered that tumor cells make frequent and recurrent mistakes in RNA synthesis and processing that cause frameshift peptides (FSPs) to be produced. These peptide variants are released by tumor cells and recognized by the immune system, eliciting variant-specific antibodies. This rich source of immunogenic neoantigens has not been previously tapped. Frameshift neoantigens from RNA synthesis and processing errors are far more abundant than those from DNA replication errors. Calviri is taking advantage of this plentiful supply of immunogenic neoantigens to develop broadly useful vaccines and diagnostics against all cancers.

Clinical Trials

The world’s largest canine cancer vaccine study

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Calviri’s immunotherapy diagnostic

Calviri’s immunotherapy diagnostic is a huge leap forward in predicting therapy outcomes compared to current available solutions.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are an established leading cancer treatment with a yearly $25 billion estimated total addressable market. Yet the current standards for ICIs are in our opinion poor with just 13% of patients called, a lowly 29% of correct calls, and an inability to predict adverse events.

Our immunotherapy diagnostic answers the need for more effective biomarkers – our trials are able to make calls in 87% of the tested patients, with accuracy of 87% for lung cancer. Our solution is applicable to all cancer indications, something the current ICI diagnostic tests are unable to match.

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Calviri have developed a 0.5 cm2 chip carrying 400,000 frameshift peptides. The chip screens blood from patients with cancer to identify antibodies against those peptides that could be effective in a preventive cancer vaccine.