PNRR POC - FUSION-TARGET A multi-omic approach for gene fusion detection in hematological malignancies: towards improved diagnostic screening and therapeutic targeting

FUSION-TARGET project stems from patented pipeline for gene fusion detection from RNA-sequencing-based approaches and aims to validate it, prove its applicability for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and its clinical utility in the onco-hematological field. To this aim, the project will investigate the coding and oncogenic capacity of selected fusions, their immunogenic potential and their effect on the immune microenvironment, in order to identify personalized therapeutic strategies (including small molecule and immune checkpoint inhibitors, immune receptors targeting the fusion product and vaccines) and pave the way for their clinical exploitation through the establishment of a shared Molecular Tumor Board (MTB).

FUSION-TARGET has the potential to improve diagnosis and cure of hematological malignancies in the short and long term, providing the rationale for the design of innovative clinical trials in which tailored therapies are assigned, not only on the basis of the mutational landscape, but also on the expressed fusions.