Another non RNS announcement this am >>>13 Nov 2024 08:50
ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology, is pleased to announce its participation at the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) Liquid Biopsies Conference being held in Lyon, France from 12 to 14 November 2024.
ANGLE presented two posters at the EACR Liquid Biopsies Conference:
1. Combined epitope-independent microfluidic isolation and advanced staining of circulating tumour cells isolated from metastatic prostate cancer blood samples
This poster presentation reports on the utility of combining ANGLE's Parsortix® system for CTC capture with the Portrait®+ CTC staining kit for CTC detection and phenotypic characterisation. This workflow provides an efficient, standardised solution for the characterisation of multiple CTC phenotypes (epithelial, mesenchymal and those transitioning).
In a cohort of prostate cancer patients 64% of patients were positive for CTCs, and CTC clusters, which have up to 100 times increased metastatic potential, were found in 67% of the CTC positive samples. Patients with only mesenchymal CTCs accounted for 77% of the CTC positive patients, and no patients had only epithelial CTCs. This highlights the importance and value of using an epitope-independent CTC enrichment system, such as the Parsortix system.
This study also demonstrates the potential utility of this workflow for longitudinal patient monitoring, where changes in CTC number (including their absence) and phenotype are associated with patient status. The study presented two case studies of metastatic prostate cancer patients with CTC results preceding a change in patient clinical status over time.
2. Enhancing Multiplexing Capabilities in Digital PCR for Circulating Tumour Cell Analysis Using Amplitude-Based methodology
Molecular characterisation of CTCs is particularly important in the metastatic disease setting, where tissue biopsies may not be possible or repeatable, and there is a need for real-time tumour analysis and longitudinal monitoring of disease progression and treatment response. Recent advances in digital PCR (dPCR) technology, combined with multiplexing capabilities, have enhanced the ability to perform precise molecular characterisation from even a small number of CTCs.
This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that using amplitude-based multiplexing with QIAGEN's Qiacuity dPCR system can increase the number of genes that can be assessed simultaneously in a Parsortix-enriched CTC sample. This method of molecular characterisation improves the ability to report a wider range of genetic markers from a single sample with the potential to provide a more comprehensive view into tumour biology.