Aethlon Medical Discloses Presentation of Preliminary CTE Related Study Results
SAN DIEGO, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Aethlon Medical, Inc. (OTCQB:AEMD, AEMDD), a pioneer in developing targeted therapeutic devices to address infectious diseases and cancer, announced today that Dr. Robert Stern, professor of neurology, neurosurgery, and anatomy and neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has presented preliminary, unpublished findings related to research being conducted by Aethlon Medical's majority owned subsidiary, Exosome Sciences, Inc. The presentation was given earlier today at the 5th Annual Traumatic Brain Injury Conference being held in Washington, D.C.
The findings are part of the Diagnosing and Evaluating Traumatic Encephalopathy using Clinical Tests (DETECT) study, a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), being conducted at BUSM's CTE Program. The DETECT study examines potential biomarkers for CTE by studying a sample of former professional American football players and a control group of same-age men without any history of brain trauma from contact sport involvement. In connection with the DETECT study, researchers at Exosome Sciences have been applying proprietary techniques to isolate microscopic exosomes that transport CTE associated tau protein (tausomes) across the blood brain barrier.
As part of the DETECT project at BUSM, blood samples from 78 former NFL players and 16 control subjects were analyzed by Exosome Sciences researchers. In the study, researchers were able to isolate and quantify the presence of tausomes in the blood. During his presentation, Dr. Stern reported that former NFL players' tausome levels were measured to be significantly higher than those of the control subjects. Moreover, in the former NFL player group, tausome levels also significantly correlated with performance on formal memory tests; the higher the tausome level, the worse the memory performance. In contrast, previous cerebrospinal fluid measurements of tau and phosphorylated tau in the same subjects were not significantly correlated with memory test performance. The results presented by Dr. Stern are preliminary and additional testing will be required.
About Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
CTE is a neurodegenerative disease associated with a history of repetitive brain trauma, often seen in former contact sport athletes, such as boxers and American football players, as well as in military service members. Symptoms of CTE include memory impairment, behavior change (including impulsivity), and mood disturbance (including depression and suicidality), with advanced cases demonstrating dementia. At present, the diagnosis of CTE can only be made through postmortem examination of brain tissue, which demonstrates a unique pattern of deposition of an abnormal form of a protein called tau.
About Aethlon Medical, Inc.
Aethlon Medical creates medical devices that target unmet therapeutic needs in infectious disease and cancer. The company's lead product is the Aethlon Hemopurifier®, a first-in-class device that selectively targets the rapid elimination of circulating viruses and tumor-secreted exosomes that promote cancer progression. Exosome Sciences, Inc. is a majority owned subsidiary that is advancing exosome-based products to diagnose and monitor cancer, infectious disease and neurological disorders. Additional information can be found online at www.AethlonMedical.com and connect with the Company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+.
Certain 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, that Exosome Sciences, Inc. will not be able to commercialize its future products, including any that can be described as a liquid biopsy, that the FDA will not approve the initiation of the Company's future clinical programs or provide market clearance of the Company's products, future human studies, whether revenue or non-revenue generating, of the Aethlon ADAPT™ system or the Aethlon Hemopurifier® as an adjunct therapy to improve patient responsiveness to established cancer or hepatitis C therapies or as a standalone cancer or hepatitis C therapy or as a broad spectrum defense against viral pathogens, including Ebola, the Company's ability to raise capital when needed, the Company's ability to complete the development of its planned products, the Company's ability to manufacture its products, either internally or through outside companies, and provide its services, the impact of government regulations, patent protection on the Company's proprietary technology, the ability of the Company to meet the milestones contemplated in the DARPA contract, 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
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SOURCE Aethlon Medical, Inc.
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