Stanford University Study Shows Early Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

Fluxion Biosciences, Inc. announced the presentation of the first pilot study results aimed at isolating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients obtained in collaboration with Dr. Max Diehn’s lab at Stanford University.

CTCs are cells that disseminate from primary tumors and contribute to the spread of the disease to other parts of the body. They circulate in very low concentration in the peripheral blood and are not readily retrievable with conventional technologies. The IsoFlux System recovers these rare tumor cells from a standard blood draw and prepares them for molecular analysis. The platform offers improved sensitivity of CTC recovery in a low-volume format optimized for analytical platforms.

The results, presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 2013 Annual Meeting, compared CTC counts in healthy controls, early stage, and advanced stage NSCLC patients. Mean pre-treatment CTC counts were 1.7, 28.4, and 142.4, respectively. Cell count differences were statistically significant between controls and early stage patients (p = 0.01). No controls had greater than 5 CTCs while 73% of early stage patients did. Gross tumor volume was shown to positively correlate with CTC count (p=0.04).

"This data is very exciting and validates the high sensitivity CTC recovery technology that the IsoFlux System was built around. The platform enables the use of molecular profiling tools earlier in the disease progression and without invasive procedures,” said Cristian Ionescu-Zanetti, Fluxion’s Chief Technology Officer.

Customers have adopted the system to isolate and characterize CTCs for biomarkers including gene expression, mutations (qPCR and next generation sequencing), and chromosomal aberrations.