TIDMAGL
RNS Number : 7696E
Angle PLC
03 March 2020
For immediate release 3 March 2020
ANGLE plc ("the Company")
BREAKTHROUGH RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS POTENTIAL FOR PARSORTIX TO
ASSESS RISK OF BRAIN METASTASIS IN LUNG CANCER
Potential for early detection of patients at risk of brain
metastasis in multiple cancers
Ground-breaking research by Hamburg-Eppendorf demonstrates role
of ALCAM expression in lung cancer brain metastasis and shows that
this can be measured on CTCs harvested by Parsortix
ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy
company, is delighted to announce that University Medical Centre
Hamburg-Eppendorf has published results of new work undertaken in
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to investigate the causes of
brain metastasis utilising ANGLE's Parsortix(R) system. This
ground-breaking research has demonstrated that ALCAM (activated
leukocyte cell adhesion molecule) has a key role in causing brain
metastasis.
The study has shown that the ALCAM protein expression on
circulating tumor cells (CTCs), harvested by Parsortix, matches the
protein expression in brain metastatic tissue biopsies.
This suggests that a Parsortix liquid biopsy blood test may aid
in the assessment of the likelihood of a patient suffering a brain
metastasis in the future and that the Parsortix blood test may
provide additional medical information that could otherwise only be
obtained by a highly invasive tissue biopsy of the patient's
brain.
ALCAM protein expression is understood to play a role in brain
metastasis not only for NSCLC but also for breast and prostate
cancers. Brain tissue biopsy procedures are rarely undertaken other
than where surgical reduction of the tumor is required treatment,
given the associated risks. The ability to investigate aspects of
the brain metastasis on a repeat basis during treatment via a
simple and cost-effective blood test could fundamentally change the
standard of care enabling much more focused therapy decisions in
the future.
The new findings are particularly notable for ANGLE because CTCs
from brain metastatic patients are generally EpCAM negative,
displaying mesenchymal and stem cell traits. These cells cannot be
effectively captured by competing CTC systems that are based on
antibody-based capture principles, which require EpCAM positive
cells.
In the research, which involved 143 NSCLC primary tumors and
brain metastases, Hamburg-Eppendorf demonstrated that ALCAM protein
expression on the cancer cells assisted progression of the cells
through the blood-brain barrier, increased cell adhesion in the
brain and helped the cells remain attached under shear stress from
blood flow. In a subset of analysed matched pairs of primary
tumours and brain metastases, ALCAM protein expression was shown to
be induced in brain metastatic tissue compared to primary tumor
tissue, indicating a de novo expression of ALCAM in c. 30% of brain
metastases. As protein expression of ALCAM on the
Parsortix-harvested CTCs correlated with the ALCAM protein
expression on the metastatic brain tissue biopsy, a Parsortix
liquid biopsy could be used to assess ALCAM protein expression
while the primary tissue biopsy cannot.
Lung cancer is the most common cause of new cancer (2.1 million
- 11.6%) and cancer-related death (1.8 million - 18.4%) each year
(Source: Globocan 2018). Lung cancer is known to spread to the
brain in some 40% to 50% of patients in which metastasis has
occurred. Up to a third of people with secondary brain cancer will
have no symptoms initially and other symptoms can be non-specific
and the spread is only found late with imaging systems. The five
year survival of NSCLC is only around 15% in developed countries.
Patients with brain metastasis have a very poor prognosis with life
expectancy usually being under a year and a five year survival rate
of only 2.9%. Traditional treatments for brain metastases, such as
chemotherapy, are mostly ineffective since they do not cross the
blood-brain barrier. Some of the newer targeted therapies or
immunotherapies are able to cross the blood-brain barrier but only
work in a minority of patients. The researchers believe that ALCAM
may be a target for new therapies to reduce brain metastasis and
analysis of CTCs may identify potential patient responders.
ANGLE will seek to develop a Parsortix test for ALCAM protein
expression on CTCs, which may assist with early identification of
risk of brain metastasis. This would facilitate timely treatment
and assist pharma companies that may wish to investigate new
therapies targeting ALCAM.
The research has been published as a peer-reviewed publication
in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology and may be accessed via
https://angleplc.com/library/publications/ .
Prof. Harriet Wikman, Group Leader, Department of Tumour Biology
at UKE's Centre of Experimental Medicine, commented:
"This new breakthrough research has for the first time
demonstrated how ALCAM plays a key role in brain metastasis from
lung cancer. The complete correlation between ALCAM protein
expression in brain metastasis and circulating tumor cells from a
blood test opens the potential for a CTC-based test in the future
to assess risk of brain metastasis."
ANGLE Founder and Chief Executive, Andrew Newland,
commented:
"This is tremendous work by the world-class Hamburg-Eppendorf
cancer centre. The potential of staining CTCs harvested by
Parsortix for ALCAM protein expression provides an excellent
opportunity for ANGLE where Parsortix has unique competitive
advantages. Brain metastases cannot be accessed for biopsy without
highly invasive procedures and a liquid biopsy alternative would be
of great benefit to patients to inform treatment."
For further information ANGLE:
ANGLE plc +44 (0) 1483 343434
Andrew Newland, Chief Executive
Ian Griffiths, Finance Director
finnCap Ltd (NOMAD and Joint Broker)
Corporate Finance - Carl Holmes, Simon
Hicks, Max Bullen-Smith
ECM - Alice Lane, Sunila de Silva +44 (0)20 7220 0500
WG Partners (Joint Broker)
Nigel Barnes, Nigel Birks, Andrew Craig,
Chris Lee +44 (0) 203 705 9330
FTI Consulting
Simon Conway, Ciara Martin +44 (0) 203 727 1000
Matthew Ventimiglia (US) +1 (212) 850 5624
The information communicated in this announcement is inside
information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation
596/2015.
For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on
http://www.angleplc.com/the-parsortix-system/glossary/
Notes for editors
About ANGLE plc www.angleplc.com
ANGLE is a world leading liquid biopsy company with
sample-to-answer solutions. ANGLE's proven patent protected
platforms include a circulating tumor cell (CTC) harvesting
technology and a downstream analysis system for cost effective,
highly multiplexed analysis of nucleic acids and proteins.
ANGLE's cell separation technology is called the Parsortix(R)
system, and it enables a liquid biopsy (a simple blood test) to be
used to provide the cells of interest to the user in a format
suitable for multiple types of downstream analyses. The system is
based on a microfluidic device that captures cells based on a
combination of their size and compressibility. The system is
epitope independent and can capture all types of CTCs as well as
CTC clusters in a viable form (alive). CTCs enable the complete
picture of a cancer to be seen as being a complete cell they allow
DNA, RNA and protein analysis and the live cells harvested can be
cultured. The Parsortix technology is the subject of 24 granted
patents in Europe, the United States, China, Australia, Canada,
India, Japan and Mexico with three extensive families of patents
are being progressed worldwide. The Parsortix system has a CE Mark
in Europe for the indicated use and FDA clearance is in process for
the United States with a 400 subject clinical study and associated
analytical studies in metastatic breast cancer. ANGLE is seeking to
be the first ever FDA cleared CTC harvesting system and only the
third ever FDA cleared liquid biopsy test. ANGLE has already
undertaken two separate 200 subject clinical studies under a
program designed to develop an ovarian cancer pelvic mass triage
test, with the results showing best in class accuracy (ROC-AUC) of
95.1%. The pelvic mass triage assay has undergone further
refinement and optimisation, and is currently in the process of a
200 patient clinical verification study.
ANGLE's technology for the multiplex evaluation of proteins and
nucleic acids of all types is called the HyCEADTM Ziplex(R)
platform and is based on a patented flow through array technology.
It provides for low cost, highly multiplexed, rapid and sensitive
capture of targets from a wide variety of sample types. A
proprietary chemistry approach (the HyCEAD method) allows for the
capture and amplification of over 100 biomarkers simultaneously in
a single reaction. The HyCEAD Ziplex system is extremely sensitive
and is ideal for measuring gene expression and other markers
directly from Parsortix harvests and was used in the ovarian cancer
pelvic mass triage test to achieve best in class accuracy (ROC-AUC)
of 95.1%.
ANGLE's proprietary technologies can be combined to provide
automated, sample-to-answer results in both centralised laboratory
and point-of-use cartridge formats.
ANGLE has established formal collaborations with world-class
cancer centres and major corporates such as Abbott, Philips and
QIAGEN, and works closely with leading CTC translational research
customers. These Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are working to identify
applications with medical utility (clear benefit to patients), and
to secure clinical data that demonstrates that utility in patient
studies. The body of evidence as to the benefits of the Parsortix
system is growing rapidly from our own clinical studies in
metastatic breast cancer and ovarian cancer and also from KOLs with
30 peer-reviewed publications and numerous publicly available
posters, available on our website.
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END
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