ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY), the liquid biopsy specialist, has unveiled a breakthrough in cancer diagnostics, providing deeper, personalised and potentially actionable insights into the disease and its progression.
The company's latest innovation involves the expansion of its Parsortix system, which now includes DNA molecular analysis. This advancement allows for the detailed examination of both circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and fragments of DNA released by dying cells (ctDNA) from a single blood sample.
In a recent study involving 47 patients with breast, lung, prostate and ovarian cancers, ANGLE's technology successfully identified key DNA mutations in CTCs that were not detected in ctDNA. This finding is particularly significant as it includes mutations that are targeted by FDA-approved cancer drugs, yet were missed by traditional ctDNA analysis.
The study revealed that in 70% of breast and lung cancer samples, and 60% of ovarian cancer samples, actionable DNA variants were found in CTCs but not in ctDNA. This highlights the potential of ANGLE's technology to provide more comprehensive insights into cancer progression and treatment options.
The implications of this breakthrough are potentially far-reaching. By combining the analysis of CTC-DNA and ctDNA, oncologists may soon be able to monitor the evolution of a patient's cancer through routine blood tests. This approach could lead to more informed treatment decisions, improved monitoring of treatment response, early detection of drug resistance, and timely indication of disease progression.
"This new clinical evidence highlights the strength of the Parsortix system to provide the best possible sample for analysis, enabling DNA profiling of both the living CTCs and ctDNA released from dead cells from the patient's cancer," said ANGLE chief scientific officer, Dr Karen Miller.
"We are particularly excited about finding such high levels of additional variants in the CTCs that are not present in ctDNA, as this provides potentially additional information for the clinicians on which to base their treatment options."
ANGLE's focus now shifts to the commercial application of these findings. The company plans to offer its enhanced DNA molecular solutions to pharmaceutical services customers, leveraging the combined analysis capabilities of its system.
At the same time, the company is collaborating with key opinion leaders and clinicians to accelerate the clinical adoption of this combined molecular profiling approach. This includes establishing the technology's performance under analytical conditions and validating its effectiveness through carefully designed clinical studies.
"Today's breakthrough is the critical next step post the FDA clearance to show in a sample-to-answer format the potential clinical value of NGS molecular analysis on a repeat basis of living cancer cells harvested from patient blood samples," said chief executive Andrew Newland.
"ANGLE is committed to delivering transformational benefits to cancer patients through a simple blood test. This is a major step in this process and I am enormously proud of the ANGLE team in achieving this."