Potential utility in precision oncology

Paper published in the journal "Current Issues in Molecular Biology" special issue: advanced solutions for cancer therapy

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) diagnostic solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology, is pleased to announce the publication of a peer-reviewed paper in a special issue of the journal - "Current Issues in Molecular Biology" Special Issue: Advanced Solutions for Cancer Therapy.

ANGLE recently announced breakthrough data from a newly established workflow for real-time parallel Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) DNA analysis of both ctDNA (fragments of DNA released mainly by dying cells) and CTCs (living cancer cells) from a single tube of patient blood, using a pan-cancer panel run on an Illumina NGS system. This peer-reviewed article brings together supporting evidence for the additional and complementary information that can be obtained from CTCs using the Parsortix® system, demonstrating the value of a dual analyte approach for both CTCs and ctDNA.

The review article details research from multiple independent, leading cancer centres, such as The University of Athens, Greece, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Italy, the Health Research Institute of Santiago (IDIS), Spain and Edith Cowan University, Australia. The benefits of utilising the Parsortix system for downstream molecular analysis is showcased across these cancer centres in various cancer types including non-small cell lung cancer, triple negative breast cancer, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, and melanoma, highlighting the wide utility of the Parsortix system.

In support of ANGLE's breakthrough data, DNA variants were identified in some studies that were exclusive to CTCs, as compared to ctDNA, and the combined molecular analysis of CTCs and ctDNA in a research setting increased the number of patients identified with a potentially actionable biomarker, providing a more comprehensive gene variant profile. This enhanced gene variant profile has the potential, subject to further study, to inform on prognosis, treatment selection, monitoring of treatment resistance and disease relapse.

The Parsortix system is identified as the optimal technology for this purpose as, with Parsortix label-free microfluidic isolation, all phenotypes of CTCs can be harvested intact and undamaged providing easily accessible samples for molecular analysis with low white blood cell background.

The review article contextualises these findings within the field of liquid biopsies, highlighting the shift in understanding that CTCs and ctDNA can provide complementary and additive information. Harvested CTCs also have the added advantage in that they can undergo RNA, protein, and morphological analysis, thus combining genotype with phenotype to give a comprehensive biomarker profile. These recent advances in molecular oncology, combined with broad phenotyping including protein expression and analysis of methylation patterns are driving the implementation of precision oncology, with the aim of improving patient care.

The peer-reviewed journal article entitled "Molecular Profiling of Circulating Tumour Cells and Circulating Tumour DNA: Complementary Insights from a Single Blood Sample Utilising the Parsortix System" is available through Open Access and is available on the Company's website: www.angleplc.com/publications/

ANGLE Chief Scientific Officer, Karen Miller, commented:

"As the revolution in 'omics' data evolves, the importance of CTCs to extract genomic and phenotypic profiling information is becoming increasingly evident, providing valuable and potentially actionable data that, subject to further study, may be used to guide patient management decisions in a way that is not possible using only ctDNA."