Datar Genetics and AHERF announce collaboration to validate liquid biopsy for brain tumours

Collaboration study to validate and demonstrate clinical utility of Exosome-based diagnostics for providing individualised treatment decisions to Glioblastoma (GBM) patients

Datar Genetics (Datar) has announced a strategic collaboration with Apollo Hospitals Educational and Research Foundation (AHERF). The collaboration envisages establishing a liquid biopsy platform for detecting glioblastomas (GBM), one of the most aggressive malignant brain tumours in humans.

Based on the diagnostic criteria provided by World health Organization (WHO), Histopathological assessment has so far been considered the gold standard for identification of brain tumours. However, the diagnosis procedure is not always precise due to substantial inter-observer variation, heterogeneous nature of tumours and complications arising from invasive cerebral biopsy. Management of GBMs remain challenging as there are no current curative treatments and therefore, mortality rates continue to stagnate at high levels.

AHERF researchers along with clinicians from Apollo Hospitals have combined their knowledge and clinical expertise to explore a liquid biopsy assay for detecting brain tumours. Using its Exosome platform, AHERF has developed a preliminary non-invasive blood based diagnostic biomarker for early detection and monitoring of Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM).

Exosomes are nano vesicles released by all living cells into surrounding bio-fluids. Exosomes transport nucleic acids containing RNA, as well as DNA and proteins from their cell of origin. Exosome-based technology platform has demonstrated real-time access to comprehensive molecular information about different cancers in the body without requiring invasive access to the target organ. Extensive tumour profiling can be performed from the nucleic acids, which would potentially offer solutions to the multiple GBM disease management problems such as tumor heterogeneity, accessibility and the tendency of rapid relapse.

Datar Genetics has now undertaken the challenge to further validate and offer to patients Exosome biomarker detection for GBMs based upon the studies carried out by AHERF. Reportedly, the intent of the collaboration is to translate this liquid biopsy technology into a clinically applicable diagnostic platform which will immensely help the neuro oncologists to stratify tumor patients in real time for disease progression and therapy response. Further, this platform shall also enable a non-invasive insight for recurrence monitoring. Reports have shown that Exosomes can be harnessed for their diagnostic potential.

AHERF will provide Datar Genetics the necessary technical and clinical support for co-validation of the assay. For the same, AHERF has assembled a consortium of Apollo Hospital’s neuro-oncologists to conduct collaborative research to understand brain tumours.

This clinical collaboration is expected to pave the way towards development and deployment of Exosome based diagnostics by providing clinicians a non-invasive tool for prognosis, diagnosis, cancer recurrence and therapy monitoring.