SBIR-STTR Award

To provide a platform suitable for purification of tumor derived vesicles and to separate them from other tissue derived vesicles in biofluids we propose a two step approach Aethlon Medical s Hemopurifier device for isolation of the total exosome population from biofluids such as plasma This affinity biofiltration technology employs hollow fiber hemofiltration cartridges average nm pores containing the lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin GNA as an affinity agent which has been leveraged for capture of a broad spectrum of viruses of similar sizes and high mannose glycoprotein surfaces as exosomes This clinically used device has been scaled down to a bench top version capable of filtering large volumes of complex biofluids thereby overcoming limitations of current exosome isolation techniques Magnetic immunocapture of tumor exosomes using the mAb recognizing an epitope of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan expressed on tumor exosomes The Co Investigators Drs Whiteside and Ferrone have demonstrated the ability to perform magnetic isolation of melanoma exosomes using mAb By leveraging a device platform specialized for rapid processing biofluids followed by immunocapture with mAb the proposed work aims to standardize an exosome isolation method from complex biofluids that will be suitable for automated workflows in research and clinical care