Volition's goal is to make its non-invasive cancer blood tests as common and simple to use as existing diabetic and cholesterol tests on similar formats.
Volition is currently developing a range of blood-based epigenetic cancer diagnostic tests, which will be released for research then clinical use in Europe, North America, and around the world. The tests:
Detect nucleosome structures in a patient’s blood, giving an indication that cancer is present in the body; and
Identify the qualitative differences between nucleosomes, identifying the type of cancer present - we are focusing initially on colon, pancreatic, breast and lung cancers.
Once developed, the tests, which would be marketed under the NuQ brand name, will be:
NuQ® A general blood test for the detection of the level of all nucleosomes in a patient’s blood
NuQ®-X A family of blood tests for the detection of nucleosomes containing specific nucleotides
NuQ®-V A family of tests for the detection of nucleosomes containing specific histone variants which identify the type of cancer present
NuQ®-M A family of tests for the detection of nucleosomes containing modified histones which can be used as a blood test for individual cancer types
NuQ®-A A family of tests for the detection of nucleosome-protein adducts.
The above tests are being developed to work together:
A frontline test for the level of nucleosome structures in the blood, then:
If the results of this test are negative, there is likely no cancer and further testing is not immediately required;
If the results are positive, the patient may have cancer or another condition so further testing will be required to a) confirm whether the patient has cancer or another condition; and b) if there is cancer, to determine the type of cancer.
This will be done using the NuQ®-X, NuQ®-V, NuQ®-M, NuQ®-A tests in conjunction (the "NuQ® panel")
Volition’s Nucleosomics tests are protected by worldwide patent applications filed initially in Europe and the United States of America.
A range of NuQ® immunoassays for the analysis of nucleosome structures is available for purchase by research institutions at www.nucleosomics.com.
