ANGLE highlighted results from a study into head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) at Birmingham University that identified a potential biomarker for the cancer using its Parsortix liquid biopsy.
A study of 20 patients identified epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) status of circulating tumour cells (CTCs).
EMT is clinically significant due to its role in tumour progression and invasion, the development of metastasis, metabolic reprogramming, immune evasion, and resistance of cancer cells to therapy, said ANGLE.
The university used ANGLE’s Parsortix liquid biopsy system to harvest CTCs from peripheral blood samples from the HNSCC patients at baseline prior to surgery.
Research from the study demonstrated that EMT status of CTCs was almost exclusively associated with advanced stage (III-IV) disease.
“The successful characterisation of EMT CTCs in HNSCC sheds light on the potential adaptive EMT response to stimuli within the circulation of blood, providing an important and unique insight into metastasis,” Professor Hisham Mehann, at the University of Birmingham, said.
"Prospective clinical trials are needed to answer the question regarding the predictive utility of a CTC liquid, especially in recurrent/metastatic patients not amenable to repeat tissue biopsies."
ANGLE chief executive, Andrew Newland, added: "ANGLE is pleased to report on the use of the Parsortix system as a tool for HNSCC EMT classification. Evidence continues to grow supporting the potential clinical utility of CTC enrichment to provide clinical information beyond the scope of tissue biopsy.
"This research provides further evidence for the role that EMT CTCs play in the metastatic cascade and the clinical importance of biomarker independent CTC isolation methods which capture all subsets of CTCs.”
The research has been published as a peer-reviewed publication in the Journal Head and Neck and is available online at https://angleplc.com/library/publications/ .