CAMBRIDGE, UK, and BOSTON, MA, USA — October 13, 2026
Mursla Bio announced the publication of a peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles validating its tissue-specific extracellular vesicle (TS-EV) platform for liquid biopsy applications. The platform is designed to analyze molecular signals originating from specific tissues through blood samples, beginning with the liver. The research evaluated the company’s NEXPLOR technology, which selectively enriches hepatocyte-derived extracellular vesicles to identify disease-associated molecular changes. In samples from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cirrhosis and healthy donors, the liver-specific fraction identified 57% more proteins than bulk extracellular vesicle preparations and revealed a broader set of disease-associated signals. The findings support further development of tissue-specific liquid biopsy approaches for clinical diagnostics and precision medicine, although additional validation will be needed to establish clinical performance. The platform also underpins EvoLiver, which has received FDA Breakthrough Device designation, and programs being developed with pharmaceutical partners.
NEXPLOR Technology Improves Liver-Specific Molecular Analysis
The peer-reviewed study compared hepatocyte-derived extracellular vesicles (h-EVs) enriched using NEXPLOR with bulk extracellular vesicle preparations from the same clinical plasma samples, each measuring less than 2 mL. The samples came from patients with HCC or cirrhosis and from healthy donors. Extracellular vesicles are small particles released by cells that carry molecular material reflecting aspects of their cells of origin. However, conventional bulk EV analysis can be dominated by proteins secreted by the liver into circulation and by signals from other tissues and blood cells. In the study, NEXPLOR selectively enriched liver-derived vesicles relative to vesicles from the lung, kidney, breast, adipose tissue and muscle, as well as blood cells. The enriched h-EV fraction revealed a different portion of the hepatocyte proteome, including membrane, cytosolic and mitochondrial proteins, and demonstrated improved reproducibility. These findings suggest that isolating vesicles according to tissue origin may provide biological context that is difficult to obtain from bulk plasma EV measurements alone.
Liver Disease Analysis Reveals Distinct Protein and RNA Signals
The study identified 86 proteins uniquely detected or significantly increased in liver disease samples compared with healthy donors in the h-EV fraction. By contrast, the paired bulk EV preparations revealed only four unique proteins and no significant differential signal in that comparison. The liver-specific protein findings reflected biological processes shared by cirrhosis and HCC, including fibrosis, altered fat metabolism and inflammation. Further comparisons between HCC and cirrhosis identified HCC-associated proteins and a broader network of related signals in the h-EV fraction, findings that were not similarly resolved in the bulk EV samples. Small-RNA sequencing provided a second molecular layer of evidence. Although the h-EV fraction yielded fewer differentially expressed microRNAs than bulk EV preparations, only the h-EV microRNAs mapped to HCC-related signaling, while the bulk EV microRNAs were associated with a more generalized inflammatory response. The results indicate that tissue specificity may be as important as the number of analytes measured when developing liquid biopsy biomarkers. However, the reported findings demonstrate analytical and biological differentiation in the studied samples, not yet a validated standalone diagnostic test for routine clinical use.
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EvoLiver Platform Supports Precision Medicine Development
Mursla Bio’s broader TS-EV platform uses tissue-specific extracellular vesicle analysis to investigate disease biology and develop potential diagnostic applications. The hepatocyte panel is the company’s first, and its discovery and orthogonal validation approach is designed to support the development of additional tissue-specific panels. Further panels are in development. Potential applications include disease surveillance, molecular residual disease (MRD) monitoring, patient stratification, pharmacodynamic biomarker assessment and companion diagnostics. These applications could help researchers investigate disease-associated molecular changes through blood sampling rather than relying exclusively on tissue biopsies. Mursla Bio Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Tomás Dias described the publication as comprehensive validation of the company’s approach to isolating tissue-specific EVs from human plasma. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Pierre Arsène emphasized the importance of biological context alongside analytical depth in liquid biopsy development. The peer-reviewed publication provides support for continued research into TS-EV-based diagnostics, while future clinical studies will need to determine whether the approach can deliver reliable performance across broader patient populations and specific clinical settings.
Source::Mursla Bio,, press release
