Angle PLC announces identifying therapeutic targets in TNBC patients

pharmafile | March 25, 2022 | News story | Medical Communications  

A leading cancer research institute in Milan, Italy, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, has published results of a study undertaken in early stage triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Researchers utilised ANGLE’s Parsortix system to isolate circulating tumour cells (CTCs) before, during, and after NAC treatment, alongside the collection of primary tmour tissue samples pre- and post- treatment, to analyse for copy number alterations (CNAs), through whole genome sequencing and targeted sequencing, respectively.

In two patients, CTCs collected after NAC treatment shared more genomic alterations with the residual tumour, compared to the primary tumour.

This study shows how CAN analysis of CTCs from early stage TNBC patients pre- and post-NAC treatment has the potential to provide information on tumour evolution, and identiy actionable therapeutic targets that could help determine future treatment options for patients with chemotherapy-resistant disease.

Dr Vera Cappaletti, Biomarkers Unit, Department of Experimental Oncology, National Cancer Institute of Milan, commented: “The extreme heterogeneity of triple negative breast cancer has led to difficulties in finding suitable molecular targets. This has resulted in limited benefit from targeted therapies observed in clinical trials. Implementing longitudinal monitoring, through liquid biopsy of CTCs, is a crucial step for improving treatment efficacy and represents an optimal approach to be pursued in future studies to implement personalised medicine.”

ANGLE Founder and CEO, Andrew Newland, added: “We are pleased to report on the use of the Parsortix system for the unbiased isolation of both epithelial and mesenchymal CTCs in TNBC, uncovering potential new therapeutic targets. ANGLE’s ability to provide actionable insights could help patients with limited treatment options and should prove highly attractive to drug developers looking for new approaches for hard-to-treat cancers, such as TNBC.”

Lina Adams

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