U.K. biotech Mursla Bio has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform that can diagnose and monitor cancers based on data from extracellular vesicles—small, membrane-bound particles released by almost all types of cells—in the blood.
The company was launched in 2019 and specializes in detection and analysis of extracellular vesicle data from different organs.
The technology developed by Mursla aims to overcome some of the limitations of so-called ‘liquid biopsy’ where biomarkers such as cell-free tumor DNA in the blood provide information about cancer in the body. Extracellular vesicles are present at high numbers in the body, which is not always the case with cell free tumor DNA and are highly specific to their tissue or organ of origin.
In a new preprint describing the platform, the authors explain that the NEXPLOR (Novel EXtracellular vesicle PopuLation and Omics Revealer) is a bead-based platform which uses magnets to attract and detect specific tissue derived extracellular vesicles. The platform also uses AI for data analysis.
The lead target for the company is liver cancer and their product, EvoLiver, is designed for early detection and surveillance of liver cancer, particularly among high-risk individuals such as patients with other liver diseases. It has already achieved FDA Breakthrough Device Designation.
The preprint is based on a study carried out in collaboration with University College London and German biotech Evotec International to test the platform for detection of liver cancer. The researchers were able to confirm diagnosis and show the platform was able to capture specific types of liver extracellular vesicle linked to liver cancer.
Although the initial focus of the platform has been on liver cancer, there is potential for it to diagnose and monitor many different disease types and also cancer originating elsewhere in the body.
“Extracellular vesicles are nature’s native signal enrichment system for long-distance communication between cells and organs. Our platform harnesses this biology to non-invasively access organ-specific, multi-omics data from just a small blood sample,” said Pierre Arsène, Founder and CEO of Mursla Bio.
“EvoLiver is our first proof point of real-world clinical impact, and we are now expanding access to the platform to advance our pipeline and enable partnerships across other disease areas.”
