SAN DIEGO, Dec. 15 Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board : AEMD) announced today that Dr. Jeff Schorey and Dr. Wayne Comper have joined the Science Advisory Board of Exosome Sciences, Inc. (ESI). Both Dr. Schorey and Dr. Comper are leading researchers in the exosome field. ESI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aethlon Medical, was recently formed to leverage the discovery that the Hemopurifier®, a medical device being advanced as an adjunct therapy for Hepatitis-C (HCV) and other viral pathogens, is capable of capturing exosomes secreted by solid tumors, lymphomas, and leukemia to suppress the immune response in cancer patients. The targeted removal of circulating exosomes to inhibit cancer related immune suppression could increase patient responsiveness to both immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
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About Dr. Jeff Schorey
Dr. Schorey is presently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Associate Director of the Eck Institute for Global Health at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Schorey has over 15 years of experience in mycobacterial research and has published over 35 peer reviewed publications on mycobacteria pathogenesis. He presently has two NIH RO1 grants in excess of $2.5 million to study mycobacteria-host cell interaction. His recent work on exosomes has been published in such highly respected journals as the Journal of Biological Sciences, Blood and PloS ONE and in 2008 he published a review on exosomes in the journal Traffic. His work was the first to demonstrate that exosomes released from M.tb-infected macrophages can stimulate macrophage activation and more recently has shown that exosomes can promote activation of naive T cells in vivo. He is a leader in this area of research.
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In April 2009, he was the recipient of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant to study exosomes as a potential TB vaccine. He received one of only 81 grants funded from over 3,000 applicants. Dr. Schorey's recent work on exosomes released from TB infected macrophages has demonstrated that these exosomes containing antigenic components of tuberculosis can be utilized for efficient antigen presentation and could provide a practical strategy in the development of a vaccine for TB.
About Dr. Wayne Comper
Dr. Comper is one of the founders, Director and Chief Science Officer of Exosome Diagnostics, Inc. Prior to Exosome Diagnostics, Dr. Comper was Chief Science Officer of AusAm Biotechnologies, Inc., a biotechnology company developing diagnostics and therapeutics to identify and treat kidney, cardiovascular and infectious diseases. Between 1991 and 2004, Dr. Comper was Reader of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. From 1974 to 1976, Dr. Comper was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. From 1976 to 1978, he was a visiting scientist in the Department of Medical and Physiological Chemistry, Uppsala University, Sweden. In 1988, he was a Visiting Professor, Nephrology Section, Rush Medical School, Chicago, Illinois. He is the recipient of the 1992 Silver Jubilee Prize for Research at Monash University, where he also holds a Doctor of Science Degree. He has published over 170 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals. His research has attracted grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Diabetes Foundation of Australia, The Australian Kidney Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International.
Dr. Comper and his team at Exosome Diagnostics are studying biomarkers, including genetic signatures created by microRNAs and mRNA within exosomes isolated from cancer patients. These genetic signatures created by the cancer exosomes could be critical in developing companion molecular diagnostics tests for tailoring personalized cancer therapy.
About Aethlon Medical
Aethlon Medical, Inc. creates diagnostic and therapeutic device solutions for infectious disease and cancer. Our lead product, the Hemopurifier® is the first-in-class medical device to selectively capture circulating viruses and immunosuppressive proteins prior to cell and organ infection. Human studies have documented the ability of our Hemopurifier® to reduce viral load in patients infected with Hepatitis-C virus (HCV) and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Our primary clinical and commercialization focus is to establish the Hemopurifier® as an adjunct therapy to enhance and prolong the benefit of traditional infectious disease drug regimens.
The Hemopurifier® is also a broad-spectrum treatment candidate against drug resistant bioterror and pandemic threats. Third party research institutes have verified the capability of the device to capture Dengue Hemorrhagic Virus, Ebola Hemorrhagic Virus, Lassa Hemorrhagic Virus, West Nile Virus, H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus, 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus, the reconstructed Spanish Flu of 1918 Virus, and Monkeypox Virus, which serves as a model for human Smallpox infection.
Our wholly owned subsidiary, Exosome Sciences, Inc. (ESI) was formed in October of 2009 to leverage attributes of the Hemopurifier® in the emerging exosome research field. ESI seeks to inhibit the immune cell destruction caused by exosomes secreted by solid tumors, lymphomas, and leukemia. At present, the capture of immunosuppressive exosomes secreted from ovarian cancer tumors has been demonstrated invitro. The preservation of anti-cancer immune cells would likely improve patient responsiveness to established treatment options, including immunotherapy and chemotherapy. ESI is also analyzing exosome-related opportunities to improve early cancer detection and post-surgery surveillance of tumor growth, as well as approaches to harvest exosomes for research purposes and potential reintroduction into patients afflicted with autoimmune conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.
Additional information regarding Aethlon Medical and Exosome Sciences can be accessed online at www.aethlonmedical.com.
Certain of the statements herein may be forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements involve assumptions, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Aethlon Medical, Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the capability of the Hemopurifier® to reduce viral loads and other disease conditions or to identify disease conditions such as cancer, including the ability to capture exosomes and the impact that potential ability may have on disease conditions, the Company's ability to raise capital when needed, the Company's ability to complete the development of its planned products, the ability of the Company to obtain FDA and other regulatory approvals permitting the sale of its products, the Company's ability to manufacture its products and provide its services, the impact of government regulations, patent protection on the Company's proprietary technology, product liability exposure, uncertainty of market acceptance, competition, technological change, and other risk factors. In such instances, actual results could differ materially as a result of a variety of factors, including the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions and other risk factors detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Contacts: RedChip Companies, Inc. Jon Cunningham 1-800-733-2447, Ext. 107 [email protected] Jim Joyce Chairman, CEO 858.459.7800 x301 [email protected] Jim Frakes Senior VP Finance 858.459.7800 x300 [email protected]
SOURCE Aethlon Medical, Inc.
