The Mercy Halo™ Test

Cancer cases continue to rise1

%

Rise in Male Cancers

%

Rise in Female Cancers

%

Rise in New Cancers

Cancer survival is 5-10x higher
when cancer found at an early-stage (Stage I or II)2

"Early detection of tumors remains the single best opportunity to reduce cancer-associated morbidity and mortality. The Mercy Halo test portfolio is being developed as a non-invasive, blood-based assay to make cancer screening globally accessible through technology innovations that overcome the limitations of traditional liquid biopsy approaches."

Mercy CEO Dawn Mattoon, PhD

The Mercy Halo™ Test is different

Mercy Halo™ is a pioneering test being developed for early cancer detection based on analysis of single extracellular vesicles, which exist at high abundance in circulation even in early-stage cancer. The abundance of EVs side-steps the biological limitations of traditional ctDNA liquid biopsy approaches, which fail to reliably detect early-stage cancer.3,4

 

EVs are abundant
EVs are abundant

EVs ARE ABUNDANT

Modeling suggests that one mL of blood from a Stage I cancer patient with a one-centimeter tumor contains 100,000 tumor-derived EVs.  The same blood sample is expected to contain one copy of ctDNA.3

One active tumor cell secretes ~1,000 EVs per day, every day. That same cell does not release any DNA until it dies, when it releases its two genomic copies of DNA.5,6

EVs are tumor specific

EVs ARE TUMOR SPECIFIC

Surface proteins on EVs carry information about their tumor cell of origin.5 Through the simultaneous measurement of multiple proteins co-localized on the surface of single EVs, the Mercy Halo™ test is able to achieve remarkable sensitivity and specificity. EVs can theoretically enable the detection of tumors at the very early stages when they are most treatable. 

EVs are tumor specific
EVs are stable
EVs are stable

EVs ARE STABLE

EVs are more stable than ctDNA, expanding the utility of the Mercy Halo™ test to assess cancer signal in biobanked samples.6

The Mercy Halo™ Test is different

Mercy Halo™ is a pioneering test being developed for early cancer detection based on analysis of single extracellular vesicles, which exist at high abundance in circulation even in early-stage cancer. The abundance of EVs side-steps the biological limitations of traditional ctDNA liquid biopsy approaches, which fail to reliably detect early-stage cancer.3,4

EVs are abundant
EVs are abundant

EVs ARE ABUNDANT

Modeling suggests that one mL of blood from a Stage I cancer patient with a one-centimeter tumor contains 100,000 tumor-derived EVs.  The same blood sample is expected to contain one copy of ctDNA.3

One active tumor cell secretes ~1,000 EVs per day, every day. That same cell does not release any DNA until it dies, when it releases its two genomic copies of DNA.5,6

EVs are tumor specific
EVs are tumor specific

EVs ARE TUMOR SPECIFIC

Surface proteins on EVs carry information about their tumor cell of origin.5 Through the simultaneous measurement of multiple proteins co-localized on the surface of single EVs, the Mercy Halo™ test is able to achieve remarkable sensitivity and specificity. EVs can theoretically enable the detection of tumors at the very early stages when they are most treatable.

EVs are stable
EVs are stable

EVs ARE STABLE

EVs are more stable than ctDNA, expanding the utility of the Mercy Halo™ test to assess cancer signal in biobanked samples.6

Extracellular Vesicles in Early Cancer Detection

Peer-reviewed literature demonstrates the potential of EVs in early cancer detection.

Our Mission: Saving Lives Through the Early Detection of Cancer

Some cancers are more dangerous than others. It is our mission to develop a portfolio of early detection tests for a variety of cancers in order to save more lives.

ovarian cancer

Ovarian

Ovarian cancer often causes no symptoms in its early stages, and so is detected in its late stages 80% of the time, when it has already spread. Each year in the USA, almost 14,000 women will die of ovarian cancer and almost 22,000 new cases will be diagnosed.7 There is currently no early detection test for ovarian cancer.

lung cancer

Lung

As the #1 cancer killer among both men and women, more people die from lung cancer each year than from colon and breast cancers combined.8 Lung cancer symptoms usually do not appear until the disease is at a later stage.

References

    1. Cancer Research UK (CRUK). “Worldwide Cancer Incidence Statistics.” March 22, 2023

    2. Aravanis AM, Lee M, Klausner RD. Cell. 2017; 168(4):571–574, 9.
    3. Bettegowda, et al. Science Translational Medicine. 2014; 6(224).
    4. Ferguson, S. And Weissleder, R. Modeling EV Kinetics for Use in Early Cancer Detection. Advanced Biosystems. 2020; p.1900305
    5. Larssen, P. et al. Tracing cellular origin of human exosomes using multiplex proximity extension assays. Mol. Cell Proteom. 2017; 16, 502–511.
    6. Castillo, J. et al. Surfaceome profiling enables isolation of cancer-specific exosomal cargo in liquid biopsies from pancreatic cancer patients. Ann. Oncol. 2017; 29, 223–229.