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NEP explores the exosome
April 2013
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
GARNER, Mass.—New England
Peptide Inc. (NEP) has acquired
the worldwide exclusive rights for Vn96 and a portfolio of other peptide
compounds from the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute (ACRI). Under the terms
of the licensing
agreement, NEP will use the peptides for the research-grade
enrichment of microparticles, microvesicles and exosomes. NEP plans to release
a research-
grade affinity enrichment kit within the next quarter.
"Our kit can specifically isolate exosomes
in less than an
hour on your benchtop," says company president and CEO Sam Massoni. "Studying
the profile of the biomarkers found within is the next
stage in disease
research, and presents a great opportunity to achieve breakthroughs in
personalized medicine."
Exosomes have become one of the fastest growing areas of
disease research in recent years, Massoni states.
"The main issue now impeding scientists is one of
accessibility, as exosomes have proven to be notoriously difficult to
obtain
from biological samples," he notes.
The first generation of affinity reagents on the
market were
PEG-based and relied on general lipid-binding properties for capture, Massoni
explains.
"Various methods for their purification or capture (notably
ultracentrifugation or lipid binding) have previously been developed, but these
methods may be limited by the availability of equipment and/or questions
regarding the specificity or thoroughness of captured material," he observes.
"Our reagents are designed to bind specific proteins known to exist on the
surface of exosomes and microvesicles. Vn96 attaches to circulating
exosomes by
binding surface heat shock proteins. With a simple mixture the reagents quickly
and efficiently pellet the exosomes out of a variety of
biological samples
(urine, serum, saliva, cell-derived media, etc.). One can then either filter
out pellet (exosomes) or perform a routine centrifuge
step and draw off
supernatant. We believe that Vn96, coupled with advancing genomic and proteomic
biomarker research, will lead to a promising array of
diagnostic applications
for disease detection."
NEP's goal is "for it to be the first step of
a simple blood
test that could provide early detection of hundreds of specific diseases, each
with its own protein or nucleic acid profile, all
performed as part of a
routine physical in the doctor's office," says Massoni.
"A lot of research
remains to be conducted, however, to be
able to characterize those biomarkers into a specific profile of disease. There
are also multiple methods of
possible sample collection, the results of which
need to be aligned with one another in order to make certain of the
trustworthiness of any one sample
type."
According to Dr. Rodney Ouellett, president and scientific
director of ACRI, "You can think of
microvesicles as a facsimile of a diseased
cell that contains the same altered genes and proteins that you would find in a
sample obtained from a
surgical biopsy. Microvesicles circulate in blood or
urine, so important diagnostic or prognostic information can be collected
simply and used for
either research or clinical analysis."
"This agreement is further evidence of New England Peptide's
commitment to collaborate with its customers to develop and manufacture
important research tools," Massoni states.
NEP plans to manufacture the research-grade kit in its
current Massachusetts facility. Massoni notes that ACRI and NEP are
actively
seeking collaborators for the clinical use of Vn96.
The ACRI is a nonprofit organization
founded in 1998 and
housed at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, New
Brunswick. The Centre focuses on the genetic origins of cancer and is pursuing
three main areas of development: early screening; enhanced diagnosis and
targeted treatment. Code: E041312 Back |
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