Tumor-Derived Exomeres as Biomarkers for Cancer Detection and Monitoring

Background & Unmet Need

• Extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) (including exosomes) are secreted by both healthy and cancerous cells
• EVPs contain proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and metabolites and can transfer their contents from one cell to another as a form of cell-cell communication
• EVPs are promising tools for use in detection, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment decisions in cancer
• However, EVPs are heterogenous and separating them into distinct, meaningful populations has been difficult
• Unmet Need: Identification of distinct EVP subgroups for use as biomarkers in diagnosis and treatment of cancer

Technology Overview

• The Technology: The use of a newly identified class of particles, called exomeres, as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancer
• The Discovery: The inventors used asymmetric field-flow fractionation techniques to identify and characterize EVPs by size
• They identified three sub-types with distinct proteomic, N-glycan, lipid, and nucleic acid compositions
• These classes were Exo-S, Exo-L, and a nanoparticle class called exomeres
• PoC Data: Exomeres were found to be enriched in metabolic enzymes and specific pathways, such as glycolysis and mTOR signaling, indicating that they may modify the metabolism of target cells
• Exomeres were also found to contain proteins related to hypoxia, microtubule function and coagulation

Technology Applications

• Use as a biomarker and diagnostic tool for the detection of cancer, metastasis or disease recurrence
• Use as a biomarker for prognosis and treatment decisions for cancer

Technology Advantages

• EVP sub-types yield more granular data on properties of cancer and metastasis
• Exomere separation protocol is highly reproducible, rapid, and simple