ExoSensPoC

ExoSens-PoC. Enhancing tests for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the major single cause of dementia. It courses with a long prodromal period, which difficult the identification of patients in early stages in which they might benefit from disease modifying treatments. Existing diagnostic tools such as brain imaging or cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers are expensive and invasive procedures, limiting their appeal to patients. Exosomes, small extracellular vesicles secreted by most cell types, have been recently proposed as carriers of biomarkers for many non-transmissible diseases as their cargo reflects cellular processes happening in the cell of origin. In the context of AD, they have been shown to be carriers of AD-related molecules. These vesicles can be found in many biofluids, such as plasma, therefore making them a suitable target for non-invasive biomarker research. ExoSens-PoC proposal addresses the development of a Proof-of-Concept/Point-of-Care (PoC) test for the early identification of individuals at risk of AD in plasma. Such a test can be used both in low resource settings where current technologies are not available, and in high-income countries at community and primary-care level to dramatically improve turnaround times for results and reduce costs. The device is rapid and inexpensive, requiring minimal handling, and can easily be introduced into the general practitioner’s armory for ambulatory screening of AD and risk-stratification of the patients, increasing thus its valorization.

Prof. Isabel Pividori, experts in the Diagnostic Tests based on exosomes will partner with ACE foundation/ Institut Català de Neurociències Aplicades and EureCat in this acceleration phase, to build a reliable, scalable, and secure product faster and at the same time, ensuring compliance with the EU Regulation.

This two year project is funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU.