MD Anderson Cancer Center poster presentation

RNS Number : 1492G

Angle PLC

04 August 2016

 

For immediate release

4 August 2016

ANGLE plc ("the Company")

MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER DEMONSTRATES CLINICAL APPLICABILITY OF ANGLE'S "BLOOD BIOPSY" TECHNOLOGY  

Poster presentation at AACC shows harvest of breast cancer cells in blood

using Parsortix™ cell separation system enables subsequent gene expression analysis

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), the specialist medtech company, announces a poster presentation by researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center describing clinically-relevant results from a study using its lead product, the Parsortix cell separation system, to harvest breast cancer cells in blood for subsequent molecular characterisation. The poster was presented at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Annual Meeting on 2 August 2016.

The research team, led by Dr James M. Reuben, Professor, Department of Hematopathology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, confirmed the ability to perform advanced molecular analysis on breast cancer cells isolated from blood samples using the Parsortix liquid biopsy technology. The researchers note the ability of the Parsortix method to harvest circulating tumor cells (CTCs) without the use of antibodies.

In the study, entitled "Antibody-free microfluidics-based circulating tumor cell enrichment by ANGLE plc Parsortix and downstream molecular characterization by Affymetrix branched DNA technology", the researchers describe the advantages of being able to perform gene expression analysis on the harvested cells.

Following capture of breast cancer cells that were spiked into healthy donor blood samples, the researchers measured the expression of several genes, including specific breast-cancer related genes. The study results show high specificity for detection of the targeted genes and strong sensitivity for highly expressed genes in dilutions of the harvested cell extracts. The ability to measure gene expression in CTCs has the potential to provide more clinically actionable information than simple detection or quantification of tumor cells in blood.     

This new research demonstrates the potential to obtain particularly detailed information from CTCs regarding the cells being analysed. Liquid biopsy using the Parsortix system, combined with molecular characterisation of the CTCs, can be repeated over time without requiring surgical removal of a tumor sample. It offers a less invasive and more personalized approach to monitoring for response to therapy and disease progression.

ANGLE Chief Technology Officer, Dr Shane Booth, commented:

"Multiplexed gene expression analysis will be a very important approach in enabling new clinical diagnostic capability in oncology through liquid biopsy.  But this is technically demanding, and leading edge techniques will need to be applied with CTCs if liquid biopsy is to be robust and versatile.   CTC analysis using array based methods is an area of particular interest to us, and this research is an important step in proving their efficacy with our cell separation system, and in developing the required methodology.  Coming as they do from the renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center, these developments and conclusions are encouraging and exciting."

For further information:

ANGLE plc	01483 685830
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
Cenkos Securities Stephen Keys (Nominated adviser) Russell Kerr, Oliver Baxendale (Sales)	020 7397 8900
WG Partners David Wilson Claes Spång	020 3705 9330
FTI Consulting Simon Conway, Mo Noonan, Stephanie Cuthbert Kimberley Ha (US)	020 3727 1000 001 212 850 5612

For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/glossary/

Notes for editors

About ANGLE plc     www.angleplc.com 

ANGLE is a specialist medtech company commercialising a disruptive platform technology that can capture cells circulating in blood, such as cancer cells, even when they are as rare in number as one cell in one billion blood cells, and harvest the cells for analysis.

ANGLE's cell separation technology is called the Parsortix^TM system and it enables a liquid biopsy (simple blood test) to be used to provide the cells of interest. Parsortix is the subject of granted patents in Europe, the United States, Canada, China and Australia and three extensive families of patents are being progressed worldwide. The system is based on a microfluidic device that captures live cells based on a combination of their size and compressibility. Parsortix has a CE Mark for Europe and FDA authorisation is in process for the United States. 

ANGLE has established formal collaborations with world-class cancer centres.  These Key Opinion Leaders are working to identify applications with medical utility (clear benefit to patients), and to secure clinical data that demonstrates that utility in patient studies.  Details are available here http://www.angleplc.com/the-company/collaborators/ 

The analysis of the cells that can be harvested from patient blood with ANGLE's Parsortix system has the potential to help deliver personalised cancer care offering profound improvements in clinical and health economic outcomes in the treatment and diagnosis of various forms of cancer.

The global increase in cancer to a 1 in 3 lifetime incidence is set to drive a multi-billion dollar clinical market. The Parsortix system is 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.

As well as cancer, the Parsortix technology has the potential for deployment with several other important cell types in the future.

ANGLE stock trades on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AGL and in New York on the OTC-QX under the ticker symbol ANPCY. For further information please visit: www.angleplc.com

 

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