LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - AIM-listed biotechnology company Oxford BioDynamics has seen its EpiSwitch platform used to compare the genomic architecture of healthy and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis patient samples in the peer-reviewed journal EBioMedicine.
OBD's EpiSwitch platform was utilised to discover an epigenetic biomarker, called a chromosomal conformation signature (CCS), with diagnostic potential in ALS.

The paper showed that a recent study had successfully yielded a distinct CCS biomarker that was diagnostic for ALS, demonstrating a "highly promising, potential new approach" to the diagnosis of the disease.

The study was a collaboration between Oxford BioDynamics, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, and the Neurology Clinical Research Institute, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Dr Alexandre Akoulitchev, chief scientific officer at Oxford BioDynamics and the report's author, said, "There is currently no definitive method for the differential diagnosis of ALS, which has proven to be extremely challenging given the very heterogeneous profiles, variable prognosis, and several potential sub-types of the disease."

"We are pleased that through our collaboration with leading world experts and institutions, we have successfully developed blood-based epigenetic biomarkers that provide new insights into disease mechanisms and have the potential to be used as a rapid and effective diagnostic test for this disease. We believe it will make an important contribution both to patient care and to therapeutic development," Akoulitchev added.

As of 1200 BST, Oxford Bio shares had ticked up 0.94% to 214p.

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