Avalon GloboCare Corp. announced the discovery and development of the world’s first saliva-based exosomal microRNA biomarker, miR-185, as a dual diagnostic and therapeutic target for oral cancer. Oral leukoplakia, with a prevalence of 2% affecting the worldwide population, is a pre-cancerous lesion that confers increased risk for the development of oral cancer. Previously, there had been no reliable methodology to predict the progression from oral leukoplakia to malignant oral cancer. In collaboration with Beijing Stomatological Hospital affiliated with the Capital Medical University in China, Avalon and Genexosome Technologies have completed a clinical study and revealed miR185 as a novel saliva-based exosomal biomarker with strong correlation and predictive value for malignant transformation from oral leukoplakia to oral cancer. In a subsequent study, the companies further demonstrated that topical application of exosomes released from genetically modified human stem cells with increased expression levels of miR-185 can remarkably deter the progression of pre-malignant oral leukoplakia to form oral cancer. This study has been accepted as poster presentation at the upcoming 2019 Annual Meeting of International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV). The Company also announced the publication of a PCT patent application covering a method for preventing and treating oral cancer with extracellular vesicles (exosomes) carrying miR-185 (Publication No. WO 2018/205978).