Angle PLC Announces Parsortix Demonstrates Ability to Isolate CTCs

PARSORTIX SYSTEM DEMONSTRATES ABILITY TO ISOLATE CTCs FOR DOWNSTREAM GENE ANALYSIS REVEALING MULTIPLE PROGNOSTIC BIOMARKERS

Leading European study centre presents results of three studies in ovarian and lung cancer at 5^th ACTC Conference

Novel CTC biomarkers found to predict progression free survival and treatment response for longitudinal patient monitoring in ovarian cancer

GUILDFORD, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 27, 2021 / ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL)(OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, is pleased to announce that the Molecular Oncology Group at the Medical University of Vienna, presented results of three studies at the 5^th Advances in Circulating Tumour Cells (ACTC) conference, held 22-25 September in Kalamata, Greece.

The studies in ovarian cancer, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, all utilised ANGLE's biomarker-independent Parsortix^® system to isolate circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from a simple blood draw.

The largest study, a Phase II drug trial including 133 ovarian cancer patients, explored longitudinal gene expression of CTCs isolated using the Parsortix system in platinum-resistant patients enrolled on the GANNET53 trial over a five year period with an average four time points for each patient. Gene expression analysis of genes expressed on CTCs isolated from successive blood draws correlated closely with significantly improved progression free survival and response to therapy. For example, at cycle 1, gene expression analysis of CTCs isolated by the Parsortix system could predict responders (with a survival rate of 85% at 120 days) compared to non-responders (with a survival rate of 30% at 120 days). This pattern was repeated at all the cycle points. In the conference poster, the researchers described this as a "landmark analysis". This study demonstrates how gene expression analysis of CTCs, isolated by the Parsortix system, can be used in pharma drug trials for longitudinal patient monitoring and to guide treatment selection.

In the second study, researchers evaluated the detection of tumour protein p53 as a new marker for CTC detection in SCLC. p53 is coded for by the tumour suppressor gene TP53, which is mutated in 75-90% of SCLC patients and is the target of several novel drugs in clinical development. For the first time, the presence of p53 in CTCs was demonstrated, suggesting that they are a unique new marker for CTC detection. Furthermore, the presence of p53 aggregates is likely to be a valuable biomarker for targeted treatment selection, and of interest to pharma companies developing drugs targeting p53.