ANGLE plc announced that the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum NCI Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, has published results of work undertaken in preclinical models of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), showing that isolation of live circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from a simple blood draw, using the Parsortix® system, can provide rapid information on patient response to existing chemotherapy treatments that can target metastasis more effectively than tumour growth. The research team has previously demonstrated that breast cancer cells circulating in the blood form unique microtentacles that enable the spread and formation of tumours at secondary sites. Microtentacles are supported by microtubules, which are the target for many FDA-approved chemotherapy drugs, such as vinorelbine used in this study.

Using preclinical TNBC models, the researchers showed that vinorelbine treatment increased the time taken for the cancer to spread from 8 to 30 weeks. However, a 24-hour vinorelbine treatment had little effect on the primary tumour development and survival, indicating selective targeting of the metastatic potential of CTCs through microtubule disruption. The results of this study indicate that CTCs demonstrate specific features which can be leveraged to reveal the anti-metastatic capabilities of vinorelbine and potentially other existing FDA-approved therapies.