Tumor microenvironment profiling for improved treatment selection in cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is a major public health problem worldwide and primarily affects young adults between 35 and 45 years old in the Netherlands, where 800-900 new diagnoses are made annually. Despite available treatment options such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hyperthermia, not all patients benefit from these, and 200 women die from cervical cancer in the Netherlands each year. Immunotherapy has recently emerged as a promising option for advanced cervical cancer patients, with some responding patients showing significantly prolonged survival. However, only 20% of patients respond to this treatment. Research has shown that cancer cells interact with other cell types in the tumor microenvironment, which is an important factor influencing treatment response and patient outcomes. This project aims to enable the evaluation and use of the microenvironment of the cervical cancer tumor in routine clinical settings. We have developed a state-of-the-art computational technique that estimates the presence of different cell types using standard RNA-seq data, which reflects RNA expression levels in all cells within the tumor. In collaboration with PREDICA Diagnostics, we are trying to extend this approach to a more affordable RNA-seq technique, circular probe-based RNA sequencing (CiRNA-seq), obtained from cervical cancer samples. We will first apply and validate the framework using cervical cancer samples collected at Amsterdam UMC. Based on this framework, we will create a comprehensive profile of the tumor microenvironment in cervical cancer patients, with respect to different stages and treatment options, including immunotherapy, and assess the potential clinical utility of this information.