Abstract 3534: TPIPE, a pipeline for the identification and functional assessment of therapeutic cancer vaccine candidates

Abstract Therapeutic vaccination is a promising strategy for personalized cancer therapy. Using this approach, anadaptive T cell mediated immune response can be mounted against peptides presented by cancer cells, allowing for a systemic cancer cell eradication and immune memory formation.A key challenge for this approach is the identification of target peptides that are ubiquitously presented bycancer cells and capable of eliciting a cytotoxic T cell response. In this context, IQVIA Laboratories, In Vitro Immunology (formerly known as ImmunXperts) developed a pipeline for the Target Peptide Identification and the (functional) Peptide Evaluation (TPIPE) using in vitro generated peptide-specific T cells. This approach can be customized to be applicable to various therapeutic vaccine platforms. In brief, in silico prediction tools are used for the identification and pre-selection of candidate peptides.Peptide presentation is assessed by immunopeptidomics/MHC-associated peptide proteomics (MAPPs) in collaboration with ImmuneSpec. Upon identification of relevant targets, peptide-specific T cells aregenerated in vitro by co-culturing T cells with peptide-loaded/transfected dendritic cells. Peptide-reactivityis monitored over time by assessing the ability of the antigen-specific T cells binding to multimers via flowcytometry and in peptide re-stimulation FluoroSpot assays. The cytotoxic functionality of in vitro enriched peptide-specific T cells is subsequently evaluated in live-cell imaging, flow cytometry or colorimetry-based killing assays. Taken together, the TPIPE pipeline provides a customizable approach of the identification and functionalevaluation of therapeutic vaccines. TPIPE relies on high-quality pre-screened PBMCs, as provided by IQVIA Laboratories, In Vitro Immunology’s own biobank, covering a wide range of 4-digit HLA-typed healthy donor preparations. Citation Format: Christoph Schifflers, Martijn Vlaming, Emmanuelle Sidot, Jezabel Lefevre, Elise Pepermans, Ellen Boelen, Sofie Pattyn. TPIPE, a pipeline for the identification and functional assessment of therapeutic cancer vaccine candidates [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 3534.