Extracellular Vesicle Tracking using surface proteins and Resonance Assays to detect breast Cancer in Early stage (EV-TRACE) A major challenge in cancer is to detect the disease early on and it locate organ of origin while stratifying patients to receive appropriate treatment to increase survival and quality of life. Most cancers that are detected early can only be cured by surgery; so without any systemic therapy. New, inexpensive and non-invasive diagnostic methods are needed for early detection, screening and monitoring of the dynamics of the tumor, as well as the risk of relapse. Extracellular vesicles (EV) are stable in circulation, are released by living cells and are detected in almost every body fluid. EV-based liquid biopsies provide dynamic information about possible tumors at the time of blood draw. On Based on that information and EV quantification, promising new diagnostic tests can be performed are being developed for many diseases, eg for breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in women around the world. As a test, we chose this type of cancer because (1) we have one identified unmet need based on conversations with clinicians, and (2) we have a high-quality biobank with blood samples from women between 50 and 75 years old that are routinely screened. Furthermore, there is no commonly used liquid biopsy test yet available for early breast cancer detection.

On the one hand, our goal is to develop a platform for picking up EV-based biomarkers and on the other hand to develop new patented knowledge on EV-based diagnostic / prognostic biomarkers:

1. Obtaining SOP for standardized analysis of EV in liquid biopsies

2. Obtain a platform for identifying and validating cancer EV surface markers

3. Develop methods and standardized SOP for the early diagnosis of diseases with using EV-based tests on liquid biopsies

4. Developing antibodies directed against surface proteins on EV cancer

5. Evaluate FO-SPR for high flow analysis of cancer specific-EV

6. Develop a blood test that can be used to diagnose breast cancer at an early stage to detect