Exosome Diagnostics Unveils RNA-Seq Technology for Biomarker Detection in Exosomal RNA

Exosome Diagnostics, Inc. in recent partnership with Takeda Pharmaceuticals has produced the industry’s first data demonstrating the power of exosomal RNA (exoRNA) for long RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). This discovery will enable insight into a patient’s genetic makeup that was previously inaccessible, thereby enabling the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics that can be used to detect and treat disease. Data were presented at the American Society of Exosomes and Microvesicles (ASEMV) on October 24, 2016 in Asilomar, CA.

“The field is currently focused on small RNA-Seq, but the clinical RNA biomarker space remains dominated by mRNA. These results are game changing. The quality of long RNA-Seq measurements that we obtained, is not possible without our exclusive ExoLution™ platform. This includes isolation and ancillary technologies to increase the signal above the noise,” stated Johan Skog, CSO of Exosome Diagnostics. “To fully enable personalized medicine through liquid biopsy, we cannot rely on cfDNA alone. It is necessary to interrogate exoRNA to understand the transcriptional landscape as well as increase the copy numbers of circulating mutations.”

Data showed for the first time that exosomes are now known to carry both small RNA and long RNA cargo. To date, the long RNA content has been far more difficult to isolate and measure. Existing developments efforts and publications reflect this challenge. ExosomeDx’s RNA-Seq technology now brings the diverse population of protein-coding and long non-coding RNA transcripts into sharp relief. ExosomeDx’s exclusive technology and expertise has resulted in an optimal library strategy and analysis pipeline capable of revealing these elusive elements. This technology greatly expands the utility of exosomes as potential clinical biomarkers.

“After extensive side by side testing against commercially available solutions, it was clear that no other products performed near the level of our ExoLution platform, to achieve these results,” said Sudipto Chakrabortty, NGS Scientist at Exosome Diagnostics.

Highlights from ExosomeDx’s presentation at ASEMV:

  • Highly sensitive detection of transcripts even at a shallow read depth (Limit of Detection @15million reads = 2 molecules).
  • Excellent reproducibility of detection of RNA transcripts (R2>0.99)
  • Wide diversity of protein coding and long non-coding RNA transcripts detected with full coverage.

“The capability to isolate and interrogate long RNA, derived from liquid biopsies, will yield greater insight into both therapeutic discovery and development, as well as diagnostic test development,” stated John Boyce, President and CEO of Exosome Diagnostics. “We are continually developing the capabilities of our platform to develop tests that will improve patients’ lives, and provide the tools to the entities developing medicine to treat disease,” Boyce continued.

Source – MarketWired

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