Angle PLC (LON:AGL) said its liquid biopsy Parsortix was successful in collecting circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from metastatic brain cancer patients in a study in Germany.
The University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf published the results of the research in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (accessed here).
Liquid biopsy from peripheral blood is a particularly attractive solution for brain cancer because of the difficulty, medical complications and cost associated with taking a tissue biopsy from the brain, said Angle in a statement.
A tumour biopsy can be critical in deciding on the best course of treatment but because of the serious risks involved, most patients with brain metastasis will never undergo a tissue biopsy unless they are already having surgery.
In this study, 44 patients with primary breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and melanoma with subsequent brain metastases were screened for CTCs using the Parsortix system.
CTCs were detected in 50% of breast cancer patients, 50% of NSCLC patients and 36% of melanoma patients, while CTC positivity rates were superior to studies using other collection methods.
Brain metastases patients have a five-year survival rate of only 2.4% and often suffer loss of cognitive and sensory function.
Andrew Newland, Angle’s chief executive, said: "This is important new work by the world-leading Hamburg-Eppendorf cancer centre.
“Prof. Wikman and her team have demonstrated the utility of the Parsortix system in isolating CTCs from cancer brain metastases and demonstrated superior CTC positivity rates than those seen in studies using other enrichment technologies.”