Parsortix Update for Breast Cancer

RNS Number : 8067B

Angle PLC

23 April 2012

 



For immediate release

23 April 2012

ANGLE plc ("the Company")

Parsortix Update

CAPTURE OF BREAST CANCER CTCs IN CANCER PATIENT BLOOD

ANGLE plc (AIM: AGL), the technology commercialisation company, is delighted to announce that it has achieved another important milestone by using its Parsortix cell separation device to successfully capture breast cancer circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in cancer patient blood.

The Parsortix cancer diagnostic device has now been used to capture both prostate cancer CTCs and breast cancer CTCs in patient blood, the most common cancers in men and women respectively. 

In addition to prostate cancer and breast cancer, ANGLE has previously demonstrated that its Parsortix separation technology can capture cultured lung cancer, colon cancer and ovarian cancer cells added to blood (spiked blood). 

The new cancer patient blood finding is a further important step towards demonstrating that the Parsortix separation technology can capture any solid tumour cancers without the need for modification or dependence on cancer specific antibodies, unlike existing antibody affinity based technology. 

This was the first time that the Parsortix device has been used for breast cancer patient blood.  The separation will be repeated with other patient samples to ensure it is reproducible.  Some aspects of the results of this first separation were unexpected in that a considerably larger number of CTCs were captured than might have been expected according to the published literature.  This may mean that the patient had an unusually large number of CTCs in her blood or alternatively that the Parsortix device may be exhibiting up to ten times greater sensitivity than existing CTC capture techniques.  In either case, it was very encouraging to see such a clean and effective capture of the CTCs in the patient blood sample.

It was also notable that, in addition to large individual CTCs, the device captured clumps of cancer cells.  It is believed that clumps of cells are an important mechanism of metastasis leading to secondary cancers in other organs.  Parsortix's capture and enumeration of clumps of cancer cells in a future clinical product may therefore be of clinical relevance.

Development of the Parsortix separation technology is proceeding to plan and we are on track with the next key milestones, which are:

·    Validation of the separation device for other cancer types;

·    The development of new separation device designs to allow ease of use in the laboratory addressing critical factors of increasing the volume of blood that can be screened and the speed of blood flow through the device; 

·    Independent third party validation of the performance of the Parsortix CTC separation device by leading cancer research centres including the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research; and 

·    Development and launch of the Parsortix cancer diagnostic product for research purposes, with initial sales to cancer research centres and pharmaceutical companies developing cancer drugs.

Evaluation of the Parsortix GEN2 separation design is in progress and we hope to be able to report on this slightly ahead of plan.

ANGLE's Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:

"The successful capture and identification of CTCs in breast cancer patient blood broadens the potential application of the Parsortix technology so that it now covers the most prevalent cancer types for both men and women."

For further information:

ANGLE plc	01483 685830
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
Cenkos Securities Stephen Keys, Adrian Hargrave (Nominated adviser) Andy Roberts (Sales)	020 7397 8900
Buchanan Mark Court, Sophie Cowles	020 7466 5000
Scott Harris Stephen Scott, Harry Dee	0207 653 0030

 

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