How our Exosome-Based Liquid Biopsy for Cancer Works
What does an exosome-based Liquid Biopsy test measure?
The relative amount of a cancer-causing mutation being released by active tumor cells into the blood.
Why is this important?
The relative amount of a cancer-causing mutation being released by active tumor cells into the blood.
How does that help me?
An exosome-based Liquid Biopsy test will not lead you to believe that your cancer is active when it’s not – because tumors only release exosomes when they are metastasizing.
Can other screening tests do this?
CT scan, ultrasound, and standard MRI cannot – these tests do NOT differentiate between live and dead cancer cells. A PET-CT scan does differentiate between live and dead cancer cells.
Then why is a Liquid Biopsy better than a PET-CT?
It can take months, sometimes even years, for a tumor to develop to the size where it becomes visible on a PET-CT.
An exosome-based Liquid Biopsy test can give you this crucial information long before a visible tumor forms. This means that you can find out if your treatment is working (or if you have cancer) many months – even years – before you otherwise would with a PET-CT or MRI.
What do you need to know in order to perform an exosome-based Liquid Biopsy?
We need to first know what cancer-causing mutations you have.
Which types of cancer are tumor DNA sequencing usually done for?
If you have lung cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, or breast cancer, then you’ve likely had some tumor DNA testing done in order to determine if certain drugs are an option or not.
However, tumor DNA sequencing may not have been done if you another type of cancer.
Do I still need tumor DNA sequencing done, even if I have another form of cancer?
Yes. In all cases, it’s essential to get tumor DNA sequencing done. This explains why.
