ANGLE plc announced the publication of a study of disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) in bone marrow from breast cancer patients published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Researchers at the University of Tübingen, Germany, used the Parsortix® system for the isolation and harvest of DTCs from bone marrow samples in 360 breast cancer patients (clinical stages I-IV) and compared results to the standard density centrifugation method for DTC detection. The study found that the Parsortix system was easier to use and yielded significantly higher numbers of DTCs for further analysis, compared to the standard method for DTC detection.

The isolated DTCs were abundant and viable (alive and undamaged), which cannot be achieved with the standard method. This provides more and new analysis options for DTC characterisation including assessment of biomarker status which is important for targeted treatment selection and prognostic assessment. DTCs are circulating tumour cells (CTCs) that have left the primary tumour and travelled in the blood to a distant organ, in this instance bone marrow, where they can remain dormant before being released at a later date.

Release of these cells into the blood, is thought to be the most likely cause of relapse for patients who have had a prolonged remission. One-third of breast cancer patients have DTCs already present in the bone marrow at the time of diagnosis; these patients, as well as patients with persistent DTCs, have significantly worse clinical outcomes than DTC-negative patients. Since DTC biomarker status may differ from the primary tumour with regard to key proliferation and growth receptors such as ER and HER2, the ability to evaluate these markers on DTCs may enable clinicians to optimise targeted therapy and reduce the risk of relapse.