ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY)’s Parsortix liquid biopsy system will be the centrepiece of a major clinical study that could alter the way prostate cancer is treated.
Researchers from Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, will use the ANGLE technology to isolate and assess circulating tumour cells as a predictor of future disease recurrence.
In doing so, it is hoped the Barts team will be able to more reliably predict which men will require radical prostatectomy surgery.
"If our hypothesis is correct, we hope that this blood test will become the future standard of care for these patients,” said Yong-Jie Lu, lead researcher of the study and Professor of Molecular Oncology at Barts Cancer Institute.
“Patients with localised prostate cancer will be treated more efficiently and in a more personalised way, rather than surgically removing the prostate and just waiting to see what happens.
“Doctors will have more information about whether the cancer has really spread or not, based on this test meaning patients won't be over or under-treated."
The independent trial is being funded by a £750,000 grant from Prostate Cancer UK and will follow 200 men with localised prostate cancer over five years. ANGLE will supply the Parsortix instruments, cassettes and reagents.