Poster presentation – Abstract #41
A New Microfluidic Platform Capturing Circulating Tumor Cells from Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients by Both Affinity and Size
Peter J Maimonis1, Kurt Dietenhofer1, Lucy Yen1, Keith Merdek1, and Gary Palmer1
1 On-Q-ity, Waltham, MA
Presentation time: October 1, 2010 at 5:30pm ET
WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 1, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On-Q-ity, a next-generation oncology diagnostics company developing personalized tests to improve cancer therapy effectiveness, today announced that it will present positive data on the ability of its gradient dual capture microfluidic chip diagnostic to capture rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in breast cancer. The data will be presented at the ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium that will be held on October 1-3, 2010, in National Harbor, Maryland.
The detection and analysis of CTCs in blood promises to be a valuable tool for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of many different cancers. On-Q-ity's chip utilizes a novel, dual-platform technology that captures CTCs by both antibody affinity and size, allowing for a more than 40 percent increase in capture efficiency, as compared to capturing CTCs based on size or antibody affinity alone.
"The On-Q-ity dual capture technology is better able to capture various types of CTCs, including the small CTCs found in certain types of breast cancers that may avoid size capture and those that have minimal antigen expression and escape affinity capture," said Gary Palmer, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of On-Q-ity. "Many solid tumors are notoriously difficult to manage since their molecular profile can change due to therapy response or resistance. Effective diagnostics can help measure and monitor these changes."
Using a human metastatic breast cancer cell model, the researchers found the On-Q-ity dual-platform technology captured a greater number of CTCs than currently used diagnostic methodologies; 65 percent of the cells were captured compared to 42 percent of cells captured with the size-based method and 14 percent with the antibody affinity method. CTCs were recovered in over 91% of metastatic breast cancer patients.
"Our goal for this technology is to revolutionize cancer care by providing earlier, more accurate and more predictive information to cancer patients and their doctors utilizing a simple, quick and non-invasive blood test," said Mara G. Aspinall, President and CEO of On-Q-ity.
On-Q-ity researchers are conducting further studies of the company's dual-platform technology in metastatic and late-stage breast cancer and other solid tumor cancers including colon, prostate and lung cancers.
About On-Q-ity
On-Q-ity is a next-generation diagnostics company transforming cancer treatment through non-invasive diagnostic monitoring. The company is developing innovative diagnostics to identify the unique characteristics of an individual's cancer, predict the response to therapy, monitor the efficacy of treatment and identify the cancer's recurrence. Headquartered in Waltham, MA, On-Q-ity is funded by Atlas Venture, Bessemer Venture Partners, MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, Northgate Capital and Physic Ventures. For more information: .
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