PARSORTIX BREAKTHROUGH DELIVERS RARE BLOOD CELL DISCOVERY IN PROSTATE CANCER
Barts Cancer Institute study finds rare type of cell in cancer patient blood linked to survival
Use of Parsortix identifies patients that are 10 times more likely to die of their disease early
ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, is delighted to announce that researchers from Queen Mary University of London's Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), using ANGLE's Parsortix system, have found a rare cell, known as a megakaryocyte, in the blood of prostate cancer patients and discovered that the number of these cells in the blood correlates closely with increased patient survival. This is the first time the presence of these cells in the blood has been shown to be connected to cancer prognosis.
The consequence of this finding is that, from a simple blood test, the Parsortix system has been shown to be capable of harvesting for analysis not only mesenchymal CTCs, which are linked to a poor outcome, but also megakaryocytes, which are linked to a favourable patient outcome. BCI researchers have shown in a 40 patient study that combining these two factors enables the identification of patients, who are 10 times more likely to die of their disease in the short term. This knowledge may enable targeted treatment, potentially improving patient outcomes.
Investigation of megakaryocytes in patient blood opens up a whole new area for cancer research and, at present, ANGLE's patented Parsortix system is the only system that has been demonstrated to be capable of harvesting megakaryocytes.
ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland, commented:
"This is a key breakthrough for ANGLE's Parsortix system showing further unique capabilities to harvest both rare megakaryocyte cells and mesenchymal CTCs in patient blood that play an essential role in the process of metastasis, which is responsible for over 90% of cancer deaths worldwide. The findings of this study are of great medical potential, demonstrating an ability to identify patients most at risk of aggressive prostate cancer and a higher rate of mortality and consequently most in need of intensive treatment."
Dr Yong-Jie Lu, Reader in Medical Oncology at Barts Cancer Institute, commented:
"The discovery of the role of megakaryocytes in patient blood as a favourable prognostic biomarker has the potential to open up new avenues of research in the fight against cancer, not only in prostate cancer, but potentially other cancers too. Parsortix has shown the potential to detect more severe cancer cases where the patient is likely to die sooner, with a simple blood test, thereby providing information which may enable clinicians to provide different treatment for their patients, potentially extending lives of those battling with cancer."
The study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research today is described in Queen Mary University of London's press release, which is reproduced in full below.
Blood cell discovery identifies patients with aggressive prostate cancer
Patients who have aggressive prostate cancer could be identified by a highly accurate and simple blood test, according to an early study by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).
The research discovered rare cells in the blood that could be used to identify patients who are 10 times more likely to die of their prostate cancer, allowing targeted treatments to be offered as early as possible.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Western men and the fourth most common overall, with more than 1.1 million new cases recorded in 2012. Identifying patients with aggressive cancer could have major implications for their treatment; however, methods to detect whether the cancer has spread (metastasis) are costly and expose patients to radiation. A simple blood test that is accurate and has the ability to predict earlier whether the prostate cancer has become metastatic would meet a key unmet medical need.
The study, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, analysed blood samples from 81 prostate cancer patients using a new cell capture technology called Parsortix™ developed by the British company ANGLE plc. Unlike many other systems, the Parsortix system captures all types of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) - cancer cells that have left the original tumour and entered the bloodstream prior to spreading around the body.
Metastasis is responsible for over 90 per cent of cancer-related deaths. The researchers investigated various types of CTCs including two that are involved in the metastasis process. The number of 'EMTed' CTCs, which had previously not been possible to capture by many other systems, was associated with poor patient survival, while the presence of 'EMTing' CTCs was closely correlated with whether the patient's cancer had become metastatic.
Using the Parsortix system, the researchers also discovered the presence of rare cells in the blood, known as 'megakaryocytes' - large bone marrow cells which produce platelets for blood clotting. Megakaryocytes have never before been linked to cancer prognosis, but the presence of these cells was found to be strongly linked to patient survival, with better outcomes for patients with greater numbers of megakaryocytes.
Lead researcher Dr Yong-Jie Lu from QMUL's Barts Cancer Institute said: "This work opens up a wide range of exciting opportunities to benefit cancer patients. We have already started to test more patient samples and will soon move on to wider clinical trials to confirm the efficacy of the test. We are also working to see if this test can be used on other types of cancer."
The team found that combining the number of 'EMTing' CTCs with the patient's 'Prostate-Specific Antigen' level (used in currently available tests) gave the best predictor of metastasis (over 92 per cent accuracy), significantly out-performing all current tests.
They also developed a combined scoring system, taking into account the numbers of both 'EMTed' CTCs and megakaryocytes harvested by the Parsortix system from a patient's blood. The scoring system was developed with 40 patients who had their disease monitored over a 20 month period, and was able to identify patients who were 10 times more likely to die from their disease in the short term.
Rebecca Porta, CEO of Orchid - Fighting Male Cancer, the main funder of the study, added: "This is a very promising study for patients and has the potential to significantly increase the ability of clinicians to act earlier to treat those who are at a higher risk of dying earlier from their cancer. Delivering more appropriate treatment more quickly could help to save lives and pro-long life expectancy."
Dr Catherine Pickworth, Cancer Research UK's science information officer, said: "Cancers spreading to new areas of the body is the main reason why people die from the disease. This study shows a potential new way of helping to monitor this spread in men with prostate cancer. It was able to predict which patients were likely to fare better than others, based on the number of a rare type of immune cell found in the blood. This may help doctors make better-informed treatment decisions based on the extra information, and ultimately improve survival."
The research was funded by Orchid - Fight Male Cancer, Cancer Research UK and ANGLE plc, developers of the ParsortixTM system. The Chinese Scholarship Council provided funding support for PhD studentships to some of the researchers.
Notes to the editor
Research paper: 'The novel association of circulating tumor cells and circulating megakaryocytes with prostate cancer prognosis'. Lei Xu, Xueying Mao, Tianyu Guo, Pui Ying Chan, Greg Shaw, John Hines, Elzbieta Stankiewicz, Yuqin Wang, Tim Oliver, Amar Ahmad, Daniel Berney, Jonathan Shamash, Yong-jie Lu. Clinical Cancer Research. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-16-3081
