Exosome Diagnostics, Inc., a developer of potentially revolutionary, biofluid-based molecular diagnostics, announced on Tuesday, September 29, 2015, data demonstrating the ability of its exosomal RNA (exoRNA) technology platform to predict early response to immunotherapy treatment two to four weeks after treatment initiation, based on mRNA expression changes, and to serially and longitudinally monitor the response in patients with malignant melanoma. The data were presented at a poster session entitled, “Profiling Exosomal mRNAs in Patients Undergoing Immunotherapy for Malignant Melanoma,” at the 18th European Cancer Congress (ECCO) – 40th European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting in Vienna, Austria (September 25-29). A link to the actual poster is provided at the end of this article. “While immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach to treating cancer, responses vary dramatically among patients. Based on a current dearth of precise diagnostics, critical time elapses before we can determine whether a patient is responding to treatment – time we can’t afford to lose in patients with metastatic melanoma,” said Keith T. Flaherty, M.D., Director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and a co-author of the ECCO-ESMO abstract. “The ability to use exosomal RNA in blood plasma to monitor treatment response and, more so, to predict response represents a breakthrough development that could dramatically accelerate the adoption of immunotherapy treatments by oncologists.Login Or Register To Read Full Story