PMP™, Bio-Me´s microbiome analysis platform, will be used to analyze the gut microbiome of cardiovascular patients who are current or former smokers.

OSLO, Norway, September 07, 2023 – PREVALUNG EU, a large European program coordinated by the Gustave Roussy oncology hospital, is a follow-up of the PREVALUNG study, which started in 2019 and measured the prevalence of lung cancer among patients with smoking-related cardiovascular disease. The PREVALUNG EU program will validate four classifiers based on systemic disorders (microbiota, immunity, inflammation, and metabolism) in retrospective and prospective cohorts of more than 60,000 patients. The final aim of the project is to implement cancer risk stratification tools and personalized interventions to intercept lung cancer.

The program was selected by the European Commission in the framework of the Horizon Europe call for projects and will receive 7 million euros of funding over 5 years. PREVALUNG EU is organized as a multidisciplinary consortium of eleven European partners, including Bio-Me, and coordinated by the Gustave Roussy hospital. 

Bio-Me’s qPCR-based Precision Microbiome Profiling (PMP™) was chosen as the platform for gut microbiome profiling in the PREVALUNG EU program. PMP™ allows for rapid and high-throughput microbiome analysis with a high resolution. These features of PMP™ offer the potential for the platform to be integrated into standard clinical practice to address unmet medical needs, such as better prediction of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer patients, selection of cancer patients to receive fecal microbiata transplants (FMT), and optimal treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Morten Isaksen, CIO of Bio-Me, comments: “We are excited to be a selected partner for the PREVALUNG EU program. More and more evidence is pointing to the important role of the gut microbiome in risk stratification and treatment response in different cancers. With its rapid turnaround, high throughput, and simple reporting, our PMP™ platform is ideal for large routine screening programs and routine clinical practice.” 

Link to the press release: https://www.gustaveroussy.fr/en/horizon-europe-prevalung-eu-program-which-develops-predictive-biomarkers-associated-lung-cancer-risk