Parsortix Update - Validation for Lung Cancer

RNS Number : 1047U

Angle PLC

16 December 2011

 



For immediate release

16 December 2011

ANGLE plc ("the Company")

Parsortix Update

VALIDATION FOR LUNG CANCER   

ANGLE plc (AIM : AGL) is delighted to announce that Parsortix Inc ("Parsortix"), its 90% owned portfolio company which specialises in medical diagnostics has achieved another important milestone by confirming that its cell separation device can capture cultured lung cancer cells.

ANGLE has previously established that its Parsortix separation technology can capture cultured breast cancer cells and prostate cancer cells added to blood (spiked blood).  New experiments have now shown that the Parsortix separation technology also works with cultured lung cancer cells added to blood.

This new validation is a further important step towards demonstrating that the Parsortix separation technology works well with any solid tumour cancers without the need for modification or dependence on cancer specific antibodies, unlike existing antibody affinity based technology. 

The previous validations for breast cancer and prostate cancer cells were important as they are the most common cancers in women and men respectively.  According to Cancer Research UK statistics, women have a lifetime risk of 12.5% of suffering breast cancer (6.1% up to the age of 64) and men have a 12.1% risk of suffering prostate cancer (2.3% up to the age of 64).

Lung cancer is the next most prevalent cancer with a lifetime risk for women of 5.5% and men of 7.5%.

The new validation for lung cancer separation is of particular importance since the established techniques using antibody affinity capture of Ep-CAM-positive cells have been shown to have important limitations in lung cancer where there is a weak epithelial marker. 

Antibody affinity capture technology requires advance knowledge of the cancer that the patient is suffering in order that the specific antibody for that particular cancer can be used.  It is subject to false negatives (i.e. failing to identify CTCs when they are present in the blood sample) where there is a weak epithelial marker and it cannot be used at all in cases, such as ovarian cancer, where there is no established antibody for the cancer.

The Parsortix separation technology is not dependent on antibody affinity capture and therefore is not affected by the weak epithelial marker in lung cancer cells.   If it works similarly with cancer patient blood as it does with spiked blood, the Parsortix separation technology offers the potential to capture CTCs for all cancers, without knowing in advance which cancer is to be identified and regardless of whether there is a strong epithelial marker or not, or whether there is an identified antibody for the particular cancer. 

The Parsortix separation technology offers the potential for a CTC isolation, capture and characterisation device, for all cancer types for: 

·     Early detection of cancer;

·     Monitoring of cancer patients during treatment; and

·     Post-treatment monitoring of cancer patients in remission.

The next key milestones for the development of the Parsortix CTC separation technology are:

·     Validation of the separation device for other cancer types, particularly those where the existing antibody affinity capture technology is unable to capture CTCs, such as ovarian cancer;

·     The capture of CTCs from cancer patient blood as opposed to spiked blood (i.e. where cultured cancer cells are added to healthy blood);

·     The optimisation of the separation device to allow its easy use in the laboratory with an increase in the volume of blood that can be screened and the speed of blood flow through the device; and

·     Third party validation of the performance of the Parsortix CTC separation device by leading independent cancer research centres.

ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:

"The successful capture and identification of cultured lung cancer cells added to blood further substantiates the potential for the Parsortix separation technology to become a market-leading product, which is simple, effective and affordable."

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 Lisa Baderoon	020 7466 5000
Scott Harris Stephen Scott, James O'Shaughnessy, Harry Dee	0207 653 0030

 

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