Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Niel (Belgium)
A collaborative project between eTheRNA immunotherapies NV and Frame Therapeutics has been awarded a Eurostars grant totalling EUR 1.9 million for the development of a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of kidney cancer. The Eurostars program aims to stimulate partnerships between European SMEs and start-ups to foster international collaboration and development of innovative technologies.

eTheRNA immunotherapies and Frame Therapeutics began collaborating early in 2020, deploying RNA technologies to develop novel cancer vaccines based on unique genetic mutations in patient tumours combined with specific immunomodulatory stimulation. Errors in DNA replication can produce inserts or deletions of individual nucleotides and result in “frameshift” mutations, which can produce altered proteins recognized as non-self by the immune system. Some of these frameshift-derived neoantigens are shared across different patients with similar types of cancer. Frame Therapeutics has defined a set of such common frameshift mutations (“FRAMES”) that can collectively be used as vaccine targets for the treatment of a specific subset of cancer patients.
 
In this collaboration a selection of FRAMES that occur widely in kidney cancer will be encoded in a novel mRNA vaccine to be developed by eTheRNA immunotherapies. The mRNA vaccine, combined with eTheRNA’s novel, clinically validated mRNA immune stimulant, TriMix, should provide the optimum cellular immune response required to promote the effective killing of tumour cells.
 
Stefaan de Koker, Director of Discovery at eTheRNA immunotherapies commented: “We look forward to progressing this collaborative vaccine project and using these new funds granted in Belgium by VLAIO (Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship) to advance pre-clinical studies in ahead of human trials. We are entering a new phase of cancer vaccine innovation and aim to be in the forefront by combining TriMix with Frame’s neoantigens.”
 
Wigard Kloosterman, CSO of Frame Therapeutics commented: “We are thrilled by the opportunity to combine two innovative technologies in the field of cancer immunotherapy to develop novel off-the-shelf cancer vaccines for kidney cancer. Once we have reached proof-of-concept for this technology in pre-clinical experiments, there is enormous potential to apply this vaccine concept to other cancer types.”

About eTheRNA immunotherapies NV
eTheRNA immunotherapies NV is a clinical-stage company delivering innovative cancer immunotherapies from its proprietary mRNA-based TriMix platform. eTheRNA’s goal is to commercialize these immunotherapies to deliver long lasting clinical remission to cancer patients. eTheRNA was established in January 2013 as a spin-off from the VUB university in Belgium. 
 
About TriMix
The TriMix platform, on which eTheRNA’s immunotherapies are based, comprises three mRNAs encoding proteins (caTLR4, CD40L and CD70) that work to deliver optimal activation of dendritic cells. These cells behave as immune response mediators and mobilize the immune system to attack cancer cells through inducing a T-cell response. Clinical proof of concept for TriMix-based immunotherapies has been established through an extensive dataset demonstrating clear clinical benefits in advanced melanoma patients.
 
About Frame Therapeutics
Frame Therapeutics is a privately funded startup company in the Amsterdam Science Park founded in December 2018. Frame Therapeutics’ goal is to develop its proprietary approach for immunotherapy against cancer, which is based on precise analysis of the DNA and RNA of the tumor of a patient, and using that information to supply the best vaccine against properties specific for the tumor. The strong anti-tumor immune response elicited by Frame vaccines may contribute to major clinical benefits for patients with cancer.

About the Frame Technology
Frame Therapeutics’ neoantigen technology is based on the identification of a large number of shared neoantigens, which result from frameshift mutations in tumors. Although the majority of frameshift mutations occur at different positions in a gene, the resulting novel protein products are common to large numbers of tumors from different patients. Combined with the long stretches of novel amino acid sequences encoded by frameshifts, these neoantigens represent attractive and highly immunogenic targets for cancer immunotherapy.

Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Niel (Belgium)
A collaborative project between eTheRNA immunotherapies NV and Frame Therapeutics has been awarded a Eurostars grant totalling EUR 1.9 million for the development of a therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of kidney cancer. The Eurostars program aims to stimulate partnerships between European SMEs and start-ups to foster international collaboration and development of innovative technologies.

eTheRNA immunotherapies and Frame Therapeutics began collaborating early in 2020, deploying RNA technologies to develop novel cancer vaccines based on unique genetic mutations in patient tumours combined with specific immunomodulatory stimulation. Errors in DNA replication can produce inserts or deletions of individual nucleotides and result in “frameshift” mutations, which can produce altered proteins recognized as non-self by the immune system. Some of these frameshift-derived neoantigens are shared across different patients with similar types of cancer. Frame Therapeutics has defined a set of such common frameshift mutations (“FRAMES”) that can collectively be used as vaccine targets for the treatment of a specific subset of cancer patients.
 
In this collaboration a selection of FRAMES that occur widely in kidney cancer will be encoded in a novel mRNA vaccine to be developed by eTheRNA immunotherapies. The mRNA vaccine, combined with eTheRNA’s novel, clinically validated mRNA immune stimulant, TriMix, should provide the optimum cellular immune response required to promote the effective killing of tumour cells.
 
Stefaan de Koker, Director of Discovery at eTheRNA immunotherapies commented: “We look forward to progressing this collaborative vaccine project and using these new funds granted in Belgium by VLAIO (Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship) to advance pre-clinical studies in ahead of human trials. We are entering a new phase of cancer vaccine innovation and aim to be in the forefront by combining TriMix with Frame’s neoantigens.”
 
Wigard Kloosterman, CSO of Frame Therapeutics commented: “We are thrilled by the opportunity to combine two innovative technologies in the field of cancer immunotherapy to develop novel off-the-shelf cancer vaccines for kidney cancer. Once we have reached proof-of-concept for this technology in pre-clinical experiments, there is enormous potential to apply this vaccine concept to other cancer types.”

About eTheRNA immunotherapies NV
eTheRNA immunotherapies NV is a clinical-stage company delivering innovative cancer immunotherapies from its proprietary mRNA-based TriMix platform. eTheRNA’s goal is to commercialize these immunotherapies to deliver long lasting clinical remission to cancer patients. eTheRNA was established in January 2013 as a spin-off from the VUB university in Belgium. 
 
About TriMix
The TriMix platform, on which eTheRNA’s immunotherapies are based, comprises three mRNAs encoding proteins (caTLR4, CD40L and CD70) that work to deliver optimal activation of dendritic cells. These cells behave as immune response mediators and mobilize the immune system to attack cancer cells through inducing a T-cell response. Clinical proof of concept for TriMix-based immunotherapies has been established through an extensive dataset demonstrating clear clinical benefits in advanced melanoma patients.
 
About Frame Therapeutics
Frame Therapeutics is a privately funded startup company in the Amsterdam Science Park founded in December 2018. Frame Therapeutics’ goal is to develop its proprietary approach for immunotherapy against cancer, which is based on precise analysis of the DNA and RNA of the tumor of a patient, and using that information to supply the best vaccine against properties specific for the tumor. The strong anti-tumor immune response elicited by Frame vaccines may contribute to major clinical benefits for patients with cancer.

About the Frame Technology
Frame Therapeutics’ neoantigen technology is based on the identification of a large number of shared neoantigens, which result from frameshift mutations in tumors. Although the majority of frameshift mutations occur at different positions in a gene, the resulting novel protein products are common to large numbers of tumors from different patients. Combined with the long stretches of novel amino acid sequences encoded by frameshifts, these neoantigens represent attractive and highly immunogenic targets for cancer immunotherapy.