The MANIFEST programme, led by the Francis Crick Institute and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, aims to address the barriers to the success of cancer immunotherapy, a treatment that helps the immune system fight cancer. While immunotherapy is effective for some cancers, such as melanoma, only about 50% of patients respond, and many experience relapses or side effects. MANIFEST seeks to identify biomarkers that can predict whether a patient will benefit from immunotherapy and develop tests to monitor them during treatment.
Over four years, the programme will collect data from 6,000 patients across the UK who have undergone or are starting treatment for cancers like breast, bladder, kidney, and skin cancer. The research will analyse tumor genetics, immune cell profiles, and gut microbiomes to find patterns that improve the use of immunotherapy.
Supported by £21.9 million from the Medical Research Council, the Office for Life Sciences, and industry partners, the programme involves 16 academic institutions and six NHS trusts, working together to optimise cancer treatment through biomarker discovery.