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Biotech Support Group LLC Files Patent Application for Stroma Liquid Biopsy™

Biotech Support Group LLC Files Patent Application for Stroma Liquid Biopsy™ content piece image
Stroma Liquid Biopsy
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Biotech Support Group announced that it has filed a patent application on Stroma Liquid Biopsy™, describing a biomarker panel of cancer dysregulation derived from blood. The US PTO patent file is:

U.S. Patent Application No. 15/953,260, entitled “Monitoring Dysregulated Serum Complement, Coagulation, and Acute-Phase Inflammation Sub-Proteomes Associated with Cancer," filed April 13, 2018.

“These are very exciting developments as we now have methods to monitor the influence of an overlooked protein family – the SERPINs. This is a fundamentally new way to think about molecular regulation in blood from a cancer patient. Our patent application describes an imbalance in this family and by characterizing this dysregulation in cancer, new avenues for early diagnosis, personalized medicine and therapeutic modalities will be forthcoming,” said Dr. Swapan Roy, Ph.D., President and Founder of Biotech Support Group.

The landscape of cancer-associated DNA mutations has supported the initial enthusiasm for liquid biopsy, a term used for non-invasive methods to look for cancer. Yet mutation data alone cannot account for the adaptive microenvironments necessary to support metastatic disease. These microenvironments are a complex mix of physiologic responses - referred to as the tumor stroma. As a result, there remains a significant unmet medical need for protein biomarkers derived from blood, which can profile each person’s unique physiologic response to cancer. With the emergence of immuno-oncology and related therapies, proteins offer one such rich source of biomarker information to help detect cancer early and personalize treatment. Still, most protein discovery investigations seek to find ‘needle in the haystack’-type markers shed from specific primary tumors, a common industry-wide challenge. By contrast, this patent application focuses on proteins from blood in the concentration range incumbent for normal homeostatic function, but nevertheless change due to the presence of cancerous tissue.

Biotech Support Group’s Stroma Liquid Biopsy™ patent application, describes 12 blood proteins differentially observed from 5 primary tumors of origin and all clinical stages of cancer. The special significance of this pancancer profile is that this dysregulation was categorically intertwined with the most rudimentary needs of cancer: space, nutrients and immune evasion. Furthermore, the changes within the biomarker panel all occur within an interdependent network of cascading protein transformational events, called proteolysis. Considering proteolysis is irreversible, all species of life have evolved molecular regulatory systems to control aberrancies. The most distinguished is a protein family of regulators known as SERPINs.

Although SERPINs exist in a variety of functional on/off sub-forms, conventionally they are observed and reported in aggregate. As a result, their influence on disease is missed. Using a new lens of observation, our technology demonstrates an imbalance of functional SERPIN sub-forms in the cancer population relative to that of a normal population. From this, new insights will be derived into the opportunistic mechanisms that drive cancer pathogenesis and metastatic dissemination, in addition to how those might be unwound therapeutically. Most significantly, the biomarkers in blood we describe in our patent application will be central to understanding how individuals are uniquely predisposed to cancer, how individuals uniquely adapt to the presence of cancer anywhere in the body, and how individuals uniquely respond to medical intervention

“Our next goal is for rigorous investigations into progressive disease and response to therapies with partners and collaborators. This will be our first step toward the ultimate goal of validating biomarkers useful in the clinic. We welcome inquiries to commercialize Stroma Liquid Biopsy™ for the many different applications that it can serve including early detection, wellness and risk factor monitoring, oncology drug development and personalized therapy decisions,” said Dr. Swapan Roy, Ph.D., President and Founder of Biotech Support Group.