Stanford Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Center (CIMAC)

Abstract For this CIMAC renewal, the Stanford Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Center (CIMAC) will continue to collaborate with NCI and the CIMAC/CIDC network to identify and, where appropriate, lead correlative studies for trials testing novel immunotherapy regimens. We will participate in working group calls, network meetings, and coordination with clinical teams. The Stanford CIMAC performs highly comprehensive assays of immune phenotype and function for NCI-identified clinical trials. These will include already validated and harmonized Tier 1 assays, validated Tier 2 assays, and newly proposed exploratory Tier 3 assays. For Tier 1 assays, we propose CyTOF, singleplex IHC, Olink, TCRseq and RNAseq. For Tier 2, we propose single-cell TCRseq, MIBI, ATACseq, and CyTOF proteomics. For Tier 3, we propose single-cell glycan imaging (by MALDI-ToF), spatial transcriptomics (Nanostring DSP platform), and single-cell genomics/proteomics (Mission Bio Tapestri and BD Rhapsody platforms). We will use longitudinal reference materials for tracking inter-batch and inter-project consistency. We will assess quality control measures on all assays before uploading data to the Cancer Immune Data Commons (CIDC) according to their specifications. We will also perform biostatistical analysis of results for all assays performed, in relation to clinical outcome data. For those trials where Stanford is the lead CIMAC, we will perform integrative analysis across assays, using appropriate machine learning techniques and multivariate regression algorithms such as LASSO or Elastic Net. We will work closely with the clinical teams to obtain standardized clinical data, and to disseminate and publish results in accordance with NCI guidelines.