A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

Aethlon Medical (San Diego), a developer of devices to treat infectious disease, reported filing a provisional patent entitled, "Affinity Capture of Circulating Cancer Biomarkers," with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The company said that the patent describes the use of the Aethlon Hemopurifier "as a device that fills the unmet need of identifying circulating cancer biomarkers to assist in early detection of cancer, monitor cancer treatment, and detect cancer recurrence." The blood represents a rich source of cancer biomarkers, as tumors secrete exosomes and shed other macromolecules and cellular components that reach the bloodstream. The Hemopurifier addresses the challenge of isolating and identifying low-abundant cancer biomarkers from the complex mixture of substances contained in blood.

"Beyond our opportunity to enter the cancer therapy market, we need to ensure our intellectual property estate also protects the use of the Hemopurifier as an ultra sensitive method to diagnose the earliest stages of cancer," stated James Joyce, CEO and chairman of Aethlon.

Researchers recently discovered the Aethlon Hemopurifier captures tumor secreted exosomes that inhibit the ability of the immune system to combat cancer. Follow-on studies, led by Douglas Taylor, PHD, at the University of Louisville, documented that the capture of exosomes by the Hemopurifier results in reversing the immunosuppressive activity associated with cancer. Taylor is an authority on the causative effects of immune suppression in cancer patients. He is credited with the initial characterization of exosomes and is a leading peer reviewed author on the subject. Based on emerging data, Aethlon believes the Hemopurifier will evolve to become an adjunct treatment standard to enhance the benefit of therapies administered to cancer patients.

The Hemopurifier is a single use extracorporeal device that converges hollow-fiber filtration technology with immobilized affinity agents to capture viruses and soluble glycoproteins from the blood. The device has been designed to mimic the natural immune response of clearing infectious viruses and immunosuppressive proteins from circulation.