Vortex Biosciences Announces Publication in Nature Precision Oncology Describing the Genomic and Phenotypic Characterization of CTCs from Prostate Cancer Patients
MENLO PARK, CA (PRWEB) May 23, 2017 -- Vortex Biosciences, provider of circulating tumor cell (CTC) capture systems, today announced the publication of “Label-free isolation of prostate circulating tumor cells using Vortex microfluidic technology” in Nature Precision Oncology on May 8th. The peer reviewed publication is the result of a collaboration with Dr. Dino Di Carlo and Dr. Matthew Rettig at the University of California, Los Angeles. The publication describes the use of Vortex technology for the isolation and characterization of CTCs from 22 patients with advanced prostate cancer. CTCs can provide both genetic and phenotypic information about tumor evolution, potentially from both primary and metastatic sites. In this paper, the utility of the Vortex technology to support the capture and characterization of CTCs from prostate cancer patients was demonstrated.
The Vortex technology isolates and collects CTCs directly from whole blood based on the greater deformability and larger size of the cells. CTCs are collected unbiased by their molecular characteristics and available for a wide range of analysis, providing a window into a patient’s cancer biology. The paper describes the capturing of CTCs from prostate cancer patients with high purity (from 1.74 to 37.59%) and efficiency (from 1.88 to 93.75 CTCs/7.5mL). Interestingly, atypical large circulating cells were identified in 5 age-matched healthy donors (46-77 years old; 1.25-2.5 CTCs/7.5 mL) but not in 5 healthy donors <30 years-old (21-27 years old; 0.00 CTC/7.5 mL). Using a threshold calculated from the 5 age-matched healthy donors (3.37 CTCs/mL), CTCs were identified at levels above the healthy threshold in 80% of the prostate cancer patients. A fraction of the cells collected (11.5%) did not express epithelial prostate markers (CK and/or PSA) and some instead expressed markers of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), i.e. vimentin and N-cadherin.
"We are excited to see how effective the Vortex technology is for isolating CTCs independent of their epithelial properties, making them available for both genomic and phenotypic analysis,“ said Dr. Dino Di Carlo, Director of the Microfluidic Biotechnology Laboratory at UCLA and Director of the Cancer Nanotechnology Program of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The work demonstrated in this paper shows what a powerful window into patient cancer biology CTCs can be with the right collection system."
The fully automated VTX-1 Liquid Biopsy System from Vortex represents the next step in CTC isolation. The Vortex system utilizes a proprietary microfluidic chip to stably trap and capture CTCs in micro-scale vortices based on their larger size and greater deformability than the white and red blood cells. With excellent CTC recovery, best in class CTC purity, and collected CTCs being viable, and ready for downstream analysis, the VTX-1 offers the best CTC samples available today.
About Vortex Biosciences
Vortex Biosciences is a cancer research and diagnostics company that integrates cancer biology, microfluidic engineering and informatics to develop tools for isolating and characterizing circulating tumor cells. The Vortex VTX-1 instrument harvests intact circulating tumor cells from whole blood samples for use in downstream research and clinical applications such as patient stratification in clinical trials, monitoring disease progression and drug treatment effectiveness. With a mission to enable noninvasive diagnosis of cancer and real-time monitoring throughout a patient’s treatment, Vortex is at the forefront of accelerating cancer research and improving patient outcomes. Vortex is a core subsidiary of NetScientific plc, a transatlantic healthcare technology group with an investment strategy focused on sourcing, funding and commercializing technologies that significantly improve the health and well-being of people with chronic diseases. For more information, visit http://www.vortexbiosciences.com.
Steve Crouse, Vortex Biosciences, http://www.vortexbiosciences.com, +1 415-823-7649, [email protected]
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