VolitionRx Limited sees Nu.Q Capture assay paper published in scientific journal

VolitionRx Limited (NYSEAMERICAN:VNRX) announced Wednesday that a paper discussing the company’s Nu.Q Capture assay’s ability to detect certain modifications in the circulating nucleosomes in the blood of cancer patients has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. Nu.Q Capture acts to isolate circulating nucleosomes from human plasma for further downstream proteomic and/or genomic analysis, the company said. It enables the quantification of histone modifications using less than 1 milliliter of human plasma and the analysis of the global alterations of histones Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs) associated with cancer. The paper, entitled "A Novel Proteomics Approach to Epigenetic Profiling of Circulating Nucleosomes,” was authored by Volition Research and Development Director Marielle Herzog and focuses on mass spectrometry analysis. “Our novel method detects and quantifies histone modifications present in the circulating nucleosomes in the blood of cancer patients,” Herzog said in a statement. We believe that our work has highlighted for the first time that histone H2A1R3 citrulline is, in plasma, upregulated in colorectal cancer patients and so could be a biomarker we target for future Nu.Q immunoassay development.” READ: VolitionRx appoints industry veterans Kim Nguyen and Richard Brudnick to its board of directors “Furthermore, the use of Nu.Q Capture may open up the possibility of using mass spectrometry not only for biomarker discovery but also as a high throughput platform for screening and/or diagnostics,” Herzog added. “It is also very good to see that this Nu.Q Capture assay was found to be robust, reproducible and easy to use in laboratories in both the U.S. and Europe. Finally, we are delighted that our report was published in such a good impact factor journal." The NuQ platform looks for molecular signatures of cancer by focusing on the nucleosomes — a section of DNA wrapped around a core of proteins — in the blood. As cancer cells multiply, they are modified in a way that distinguishes them from healthy cells and the traits of the malignant disease appear on the nucleosomes, which the platform analyzes. "Nu.Q Capture is one of Volition's four key pillars and this publication is another very important step forward for the company,” CEO Cameron Reynolds said in a statement. “I am extremely pleased that we continue to be on the very cutting edge of epigenetics, and aim for Nu.Q Capture to be an important enabling technology in the liquid biopsy space. We believe the Nu.Q Capture technology will be useful not only when used in combination with mass spectrometry to discover new biomarkers as per this paper, but also as a DNA enrichment technology which could aid diagnosis, treatment selection and treatment/ disease monitoring when used in combination with either sequencing and/or our Nu.Q assays." Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel