Research

Thesis title: "Application of bioinformatics in the integrative whole exome based multi-omics analysis of gastro-enteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors for pre-diction and prognosis during diagnosis and therapy"

Thesis outline: Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) are rare, often misdiagnosed carcinomas of the pancreas and the gastrointestinal tract with low detection and survival rates. In the framework of the COMPOSE Phase III clinical trial (NCT04919226) of the ITM Solucin GmbH 202 patients with progressive differentiated G2 and G3 GEP-NETs  will have the opportunity after given consent to have their solid tumor specimens (historically taken at the time of diagnosis) to undergo comparative (tumor-normal) genomic and transcriptomic assessment (allowing for identification of germline variants).

Development of the mutational landscape over time and expression of tumor specific markers will be monitored before, during and after treatment and at progression as part of longitudinal blood study. During the exhaustive assessment aimed at all four treatment arms (ITM-11, CAPTEM, Everolimus, Folfox) ctDNA (circulating tumor DNA) and cfRNA (cell-free RNA) obtained from serum plasma will be sequenced along the whole exome and analyzed in combination with demographic, metabolite and imaging data of various different sources  (PET CT, MRI, microscopic images of histologically stained slides) with the aim to generate a highly accurate proprietary predictive model for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) based on combinative mutliomics applying machine learning assisted image analysis, multivariate statistics  and bioinformatic processing based on systems biological functional interpretation.

Supervisors: Wolfram Weckwerth, Gerhard Ecker, Steffen Waldherr

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