Medical University of Vienna Research Demonstrates Value of ANGLE plc’s ‘Blood Biopsy’ Technology
21 April 2015 - 9:30PM
Business Wire
Poster presentation at AACR April 21 shows
Parsortix™ system in capturing and analyzing mRNA of circulating
tumor cells for ovarian and breast cancer
ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a UK-based medical diagnostics
company with pioneering products for cancer diagnostics and fetal
health, announce a poster presentation by researchers from the
Medical University of Vienna detailing the utility of its lead
product, the Parsortix cell separation system, in the detection of
ovarian and breast cancer. The poster will be presented at the
American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting April
18-22.
Parsortix™ System (Photo: Business
Wire)
The research team, led by Prof. Robert Zeillinger, Head of the
Molecular Oncology Group and Dr. Eva Obermayr, Principal
Investigator, both from the Medical University of Vienna, sought to
develop a protocol that combined the novel microfluidic Parsortix
technology with qPCR to enable the molecular analysis of
circulating tumor cells (CTCs) implicated in ovarian and breast
cancer. In their research using this approach, Obermayr, Zeillinger
et al achieved significantly higher ovarian cancer detection rates
(80 percent and 78 percent, versus 24 percent for other CTC
approaches) when screening against a proprietary 7-gene panel. For
the detection of breast cancer, the researchers also demonstrated
an improved detection rate – finding as high as 71 percent
mRNA-positive patients versus 40 percent for the standard CTC
diagnostic approach, which relies on the expression of epithelial
markers.
Subsequently, the system was optimized with the addition of a
further 23 RNA markers. In the initial subset of study samples so
far analyzed, this approach identified an increased level of 92%
across all the cancer types with 100% of the ovarian cancer
patients correctly identified while maintaining 100% specificity.
Larger sample sizes will be needed to confirm these optimized
results.
“The Parsortix technology contributes to the unprecedented
specificity of the overall approach, by providing a high purity CTC
sample. Parsortix is a label-free technology, and as such may
become the gold standard for ovarian cancer diagnosis,” said
Obermayr. “By combining the Parsortix technology with qPCR
analysis, we achieved an unprecedented high detection rate of
cancer, even in early stage patients, when conventional diagnostic
methods failed.”
The Medical University of Vienna is now progressing into a
multi-center prospective clinical study in ovarian cancer, which is
expected to take around 18 months to complete. ANGLE is supporting
this effort as a top priority. The Parsortix system, together with
the RNA marker panel, has the potential to help inform clinical
decision-making for ovarian cancer patients in:
- Detection of cancer in high risk or
genetically pre-disposed patients (detection)
- Monitoring therapy and selection of
therapies in treatment of ovarian cancer patients (therapy
monitoring)
- Monitoring of ovarian cancer patients
in remission for early detection of relapse (remission
monitoring)
Following the early results of the ovarian cancer research from
the Medical University of Vienna, the Company raised £8.8 million
($13.1 million USD) in February through a placing of additional
shares and offer of new shares to existing stockholders. The money
raised will be used to drive the commercialization of an ovarian
cancer diagnostic on the Parsortix platform.
“The prospect of a simple blood test for cancer with high
sensitivity and specificity is unheard of in the medical field,”
said ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland. “The very
strong substantiation of the Parsortix system coming so soon after
our fundraising is very welcome. We continue to focus all our
efforts to get this system into the market to the benefit of
patients.”
While initial commercial development of the Parsortix system is
focused on ovarian cancer, the technology is broadly applicable
across all forms of solid tumor cancer – as well as other diseases
– that require the capture and isolation of specific cells from a
blood sample to aid in analysis for diagnosis. A second poster from
researchers at Thomas Jefferson University that will also be
presented at AACR reports on the capability of Parsortix system to
aid in the effective isolation of single CTCs, allowing for
downstream molecular analysis of a highly enriched population of
single cells, irrespective of expression technique.
“It is now clear that the Parsortix system has wide application
not just in ovarian cancer but in breast cancer and other
gynecological cancers as well,” noted Zeillinger. “We are delighted
to be working with ANGLE to bring this new capability to our
patients as soon as possible.”
About ANGLE plc
ANGLE is a UK-based specialist medtech company commercializing
the Parsortix system, a cell separation technology that enables a
simple blood test to capture targeted cells for investigation, such
as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) for molecular profiling and
analysis. Parsortix can help deliver targeted cancer diagnostics
that has the potential to inform personalized treatment of cancer.
It is also designed to be compatible with existing major medtech
analytical platforms and to act as a companion diagnostic for major
pharma in helping to identify patients that will benefit from a
particular drug and then monitoring the drug’s effectiveness. ANGLE
has established formal collaborations with world-class cancer
centers and is working with these cancer centers to demonstrate key
applications for its Parsortix non-invasive cancer diagnostic
system as a liquid biopsy. In addition to cancer cells, the
Parsortix technology has the potential for deployment for other
clinically significant cell types in the future.
ANGLE is a public company trading on the AIM market of the
London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AGL and on the OTCQX
market in the US under the ticker symbol ANPCY. For more
information, www.angleplc.com
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Angle PLCPeggy Robinson, 914-525-5928Vice
PresidentorMediaBrandwidth Solutions LLCDebra Harrsch,
267-577-0806dharrsch@brandwidthsolutions.com
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