Why do immatics use parsortix? 227 Sep 2025 14:49
Immatics likely uses Parsortix to obtain intact, viable circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for advanced analysis in their cancer research and clinical trials
. This non-invasive liquid biopsy method allows Immatics to gather critical, real-time information about a patient's specific cancer to develop and monitor personalized and targeted cancer therapies.
Key reasons for using Parsortix
Epitope-independent capture: Unlike many other methods that rely on specific surface protein markers (like EpCAM) to capture cells, Parsortix uses a physical separation process based on cell size and deformability. This is a crucial advantage because it allows Immatics to capture a more complete and diverse range of CTCs, including those that have undergone epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and no longer express the common epithelial markers.
Harvesting viable cells and clusters: The Parsortix system allows for the capture and retrieval of live, undamaged CTCs and cell clusters. This is critical for robust downstream analysis, such as culturing the cells or performing detailed genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiling. The capture of CTC clusters is particularly important as these aggregates are believed to play a significant role in metastasis.
Enabling comprehensive analysis: By providing highly enriched, pure, and viable CTC populations, Parsortix allows Immatics to conduct a wide variety of advanced downstream analyses, including:
Molecular analysis: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and gene expression analysis (RT-PCR) to study tumor genetics.
Protein biomarker analysis: Evaluation of protein expression within the harvested CTCs.
Cytogenetic analysis: Techniques like FISH to analyze chromosomal abnormalities.
Powering liquid biopsies: For Immatics, the Parsortix system offers a practical and repeatable liquid biopsy workflow. It provides a non-invasive alternative to traditional tissue biopsies, which can be difficult, painful, or risky to obtain, especially from inaccessible metastatic sites. This allows Immatics to monitor a patient's cancer status over time and assess their response to treatment in real-time.
Supporting clinical trials and personalized medicine: In the context of clinical trials and developing personalized treatments, Parsortix is a critical tool for:
Patient stratification: Identifying patients with specific cancer characteristics (e.g., highly metastatic CTC clusters) who may be most likely to respond to a targeted therapy.
Pharmacodynamic monitoring: Continuously monitoring the effects of a drug on the tumor by analyzing CTCs during the course of treatment.
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