New Data Demonstrates Nu.Q® is Effective in Monitoring Treatment of Sepsis

VolitionRx Limited, a multi-national epigenetics company developing simple, easy to use, cost effective blood tests to help diagnose a range of cancers and other diseases in both humans and animals, has been working with Swiss-based Santersus AG, a private company that has an abstract released today at the International Society for Apheresis meeting (e-ISFA), which is being held virtually this year.

The poster presentation entitled "Therapeutic Removal of NETs from Blood in a Pig Model of Sepsis" given by Dr. Andrew Aswani, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine & Anesthesia at a leading London Hospital and Chief Medical Officer of Santersus AG, includes data showing that Nu.Q® is an effective method for monitoring Santersus' highly selective plasmapheresis treatment targeting Neutrophil Extracellular Traps ("NETs") in sepsis.

Commenting on the data Dr. Aswani said, "Our data indicated that the Nu.Q® assay may have wide applicability to monitor the treatment of diseases with a NET component and potentially may also be used for patient selection. This is especially important given the wide range of diseases where NETosis plays a role such as COVID-19, sepsis, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Santersus has already begun the next phase of studies that are also using Volition's Nu.Q® assays, including our first human trial, and we look forward to sharing the results in the coming months."

Dr. Jake Micallef, Volition's Chief Scientific Officer added, "Santersus' highly selective plasmapheresis treatment is demonstrably effective in the removal of up to 99% of circulating NETs from animals in septic shock as measured by our Nu.Q® NETs assay. The results also show that the treatment leads to a stabilization of NETs in circulation and a great improvement in the well-being of the treated animal. This is the first study reported to use Volition's simple, low-cost Nu.Q® immunoassays to monitor response to a treatment." 

About the Study

NETs are made of nucleosomes and are associated with sepsis. Santersus investigated the removal of NETs from the circulation of a pig model of sepsis using the Santersus NucleoCapture therapeutic plasmapheresis method and monitored the therapy using Volition's 45-minute, automated Nu.Q® immunoassay as a surrogate measure for circulating NET levels.

Plasmapheresis treated and untreated animals were monitored by a variety of physiological and biochemical parameters including lactate levels (an indicator of sepsis severity), vasopressor requirements (septic shock leads to low blood pressure which is ameliorated by treatment with vasopressors) and urine output (urine output falls during septic shock).

Nu.Q® immunoassays successfully monitored the rise in NETs caused by sepsis. They also demonstrated that the plasmapheresis treatment removed almost all (up to 99%) of nucleosomes from treated blood and that untreated sepsis led to a high and continuously rising level of circulating NETs. Finally, Santersus also demonstrated that the plasmapheresis treatment successfully prevented this rise in NETs leading to a lower and stable level of circulating NETs.

About Santersus

Santersus AG is a Zurich-based Innovative Therapeutic Apheresis company focused on cleansing patient blood of NETs using the company's patented first-in-class "NucleoCapture" technology. Santersus aims to revolutionize how we can control the human immune and inflammatory response to disease by transformative, lifesaving, highly selective blood purification using the NucleoCapture method in the treatment of many diseases including COVID-19, sepsis, autoimmune diseases and cancer.

About Volition

Volition is a multi-national epigenetics company developing simple, easy to use, cost effective blood tests to help diagnose a range of cancers and other diseases. Early diagnosis has the potential to not only prolong the life of patients, but also to improve their quality of life. The tests are based on the science of NucleosomicsTM, which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream or other bodily fluid - an indication that disease is present. Volition is primarily focused on human diagnostics but also has a subsidiary focused on animal diagnostics.

Volition's research and development activities are centered in Belgium, with a small laboratory in California and additional offices in Texas, London and Singapore, as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic products to market.