ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY), the specialist in liquid biopsy technology, has announced promising results from a study using its Parsortix system to predict progression-free survival in ovarian cancer patients.
Researchers analysed 474 blood samples from 123 patients with metastatic ovarian cancer over two and a half years.
ANGLE's Parsortix system, which isolates circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from blood, was used to perform molecular analysis on two genes: ESR1 and ERCC1.
The presence of ESR1, associated with a reduced risk of cancer progression, and the absence of ERCC1, linked to increased disease progression, provided early indications of patient outcomes.
Specifically, ESR1 predicted better progression-free survival, while ERCC1 indicated a higher likelihood of cancer advancement.
This study, the largest of its kind for ovarian cancer, was conducted by researchers at the Medical University of Vienna.
It was part of the European GANNET53 Phase II clinical trial. The findings suggest that monitoring these biomarkers can offer valuable insights for drug trials and patient management.
Published in the International Journal of Cancer, the research underscores the potential of CTC analysis in enhancing the understanding and treatment of ovarian cancer.
"The scale of this study, both in terms of numbers of patients and timescale of follow-up, is particularly important," said Karen Miller, ANGLE's chief scientific officer.
"It clearly demonstrates how the use of the Parsortix system in cancer trials could in the future enable our pharma customers to gain an early understanding of how patients are responding to their drug."