A new technique that makes it possible to study the metabolism of cancer and to understand how it grows, feeds and attempts to invade patients’ bodies. This is the challenge undertaken by Elypta, a Swedish start-up founded by Francesco Gatto, engineer and doctor of research in Systems Biology: to develop new patents in the area of molecular diagnostics with the aim of facilitating the development of more efficient and personalized antitumor therapies.
What advantages does molecular diagnostics offer?
Molecular diagnostics explores the essential principles behind the origin and evolution of complex diseases such as cancer, measuring the molecules underlying the processes that are altered in order to initiate and/or advance the disease. When we want to know if a person has influenza, measuring fever is an excellent diagnostic technique by which to ascertain whether the immune system is reacting to the presence of a pathogen, such as a virus. Very simply put, we can say that this pathology is not complex because there is a linear, cause-effect relationship between the virus that provokes the influenza, the immune system’s response and the fever.
Cancer, on the other hand, is a complex pathology, a “disease” of the DNA, this latter being defined as the core design of every cell. When DNA undergoes a certain mutation, its design changes and the cell acquires the features of cancer, i.e. it grows, proliferates and invades other tissues. Many mutations can change DNA design while manifesting the same malevolent features. Molecular diagnostics attempts to identify the course taken by the mutation that triggers a particular cancer, and is the only precise way to do it since changes in course take place at the level of the molecules affected by mutation.
What is Elypta’s focus?
Our focus is a specific class of molecules that affect cancer metabolism; we have been developing a liquid biopsy that makes it possible to measure this class of molecules both in the blood and in the urine. This is the result of a line of research that began in the laboratory of Professor Jens Nielsen at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg Sweden, in which we identified the class of molecules that are particularly important in cancer metabolism. The hypothesis has been tested in various clinical studies done in collaboration with professor Volpi of the Universities of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Dr. Basso of the Veneto Oncology Institute of Padua, Drs. Lundstam and Stierner of Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Göteborg and Dr. Hakimi of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
The European Union recently granted us approximately two million euro in funding to study whether this liquid biopsy could be useful in the early diagnosis of kidney tumor recurrence after patients have had surgery. In other words, we are trying to understand whether it is possible to follow patients after surgery through simple blood and urine samples in order to diagnose as soon as possible whether the cancer has returned. This study, which Elypta will fund as part of the AURORAX clinical programme, will begin to recruit patients in early 2020.
What are the advantages of the liquid biopsy?
The advantage of liquid biopsies is that they extract data from a blood sample rather than tissue. Since the focus of the majority of liquid biopsies is to identify the mutation that lies at the origin of cancer in a patient, we concentrate on metabolism, which is one of the fundamental processes that these mutations affect in order to ensure the cancer is nourished, grows and invades the organism. In other words, we put a magnifying glass on the effect that mutations have on cancer rather than on the mutations themselves, providing a new layer of data that we hope will increase the possibility of correctly diagnosing cancer.
The amount of data gathered in the field of molecular diagnostics is going to grow exponentially in the future. Therefore, artificial intelligence will be able to offer methods to integrate these data in a way that doctors can understand and to identify cancer in an increasingly precise manner. The hope is that this leads to more effective and personalized patient therapies.
What kind of assistance do start-ups receive in Sweden, and what model could be replicated in Italy?
Sweden is an excellent environment for launching a start-up. There is enormous government support that varies from small research funds for companies (or even pre-companies still being incubated at universities) to legislation protecting intellectual property and a highly streamlined and digitalized bureaucracy. The entrepreneurial culture is widespread and this makes it possible to find the talent necessary even for high-risk projects like start-ups. And when I say risk, I mean the possibility of losing your job in the space of 6 to 12 months! Finally, access to private capital (venture capital, business angels, and so forth) is good and on the rise. I think that all this could be copied by any country.
Is Italy competitive in medical research?
I must admit that I have not had similar experiences in Italy. I believe that the 3-year undergraduate and 2-year master degree is optimal in Italy and produces well-trained talent. Nevertheless, as far as I know, the level of research is excellent only in certain institutes. Of course, tumor research is at a high level in Italy and enjoys broad international credibility. The innovative potential for changing things exists, and I have colleagues in Italy who are doing just that; admirable examples, nearly every one, driven by the exceptional will and dedication of the founding members. That said, the practise of exploiting scientific research to promote innovation through business appears to me to be underdeveloped and almost shunned in Italy.
To give this type of project greater impetus, the priority must be placed on streamlining and digitalizing bureaucracy. As is true of many European countries, you can open an on-line business in Sweden in one week, and at a cost of around 200 euro. Another essential aspect on which to intervene would be to improve access to capital, both public and private.
In general, however, the best strategy would be one that seeks to build trust in the system, in what spurs people to get involved in high-risk projects like start-ups. For that to happen, though, there are several areas that need effective intervention, beginning with corruption. These are points that can be addressed through policy, but it is clear that change on such scale is going to take a very long time. In order to trigger a virtuous circle, I would concentrate on support for internationalization and on giving more power and support to young people: they represent the segment of the population most willing to change the country’s culture for the long run.
