Biocept to Present at the 103rd AACR Annual Meeting on New Analytic Methods for Circulating Tumor Cell Analysis, Including SelectorTM, Ultra-Sensitive Mutation Detection Technology
San Diego, California – Biocept, Inc., a privately-held, CLIA certified laboratory testing company focused on detection and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in cancer patients, announced that it will be presenting three posters at the 103nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, being held in Chicago March 31 – April 4. The presentations will cover the company’s ultra-sensitive mutation detection technology, SelectorTM, which is being applied to CTC analysis and other clinical and research applications where nucleic acid analysis requires exceptional sensitivity and specificity, as well as biomarker analysis in CTCs related to breast and prostate cancer.
The Selector presentation, entitled “The CEE-Selector Assay: A Tool for the Identification of Rare Allele Variants” (Alexiadis, V., et al) will take place on Tuesday, April 3rd, from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm (Abstract #3198). Selector is a proprietary, highly sensitive mutation detection technology that offers unprecedented sensitivity and specificity. It is able to detect rare mutations in complex wild-type genomic backgrounds with a ratio of greater than 1 in 10,000. It was developed at Biocept, initially for analysis of mutations in rare CTCs, and will be utilized in the company’s future tests, including OncoCEE-LUTM for non-small cell lung cancer and OncoCEE-CRTM for colorectal cancer. Additionally, Biocept has recently demonstrated broader utility for the technology, including detection of mutations in cell-free circulating DNA (cfcDNA) in the plasma of cancer patients. For example, it was able to identify the tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance mutation T790M in the EGFR gene in lung cancer patients, where ratios of mutant to wild-type gene ranged down to 0.004%. Dr. Lyle Arnold, CSO and Sr. Vice President, R&D at Biocept, commented, “The sensitivity and precision of this technology will enable completely new analyses. We expect to be able to detect and track the rise of a clonal group of cancer cells harboring a specific mutation even before it becomes clinically significant, allowing treatment at a very early stage.”
A second presentation is entitled “Estrogen Receptor and Progesterone Receptor Immunochemistry Staining in Circulating Tumor Cells as Compared to Primary Tumor or Metastatic Biopsy” (Mayer, JA, et al), which will take place on Tuesday, April 3rd, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Abstract #4568) and will cover a study performed in collaboration with researchers at Columbia University Medical Center demonstrating high concordance of hormone status in breast cancer patients between CTCs and tumor tissue by staining with fluorescently labeled antibodies. The third poster, entitled “Increased Detection of Circulating Prostate Epithelial Tumor Cells on Microfluidic Channels Using Enhanced Staining and Automated Scanning” (Pircher, TJ, et al), addresses technology developed by the company to detect cytokeratin negative CTCs with a new staining technique called CEE-EnhancedTM as well as with anti-PSA antibodies, and to automate the detection of these cells with scanning technology and microscopy, and will take place on Monday, April 2nd, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm (Abstract #2390). These abstracts reflect technology that is being added to Biocept’s platform and test products to enhance CTC capture, detection and analysis.
Biocept’s first CTC test, OncoCEE-BRTM for breast cancer, is now available through Biocept and its commercialization partner, Clarient, Inc., a GE Healthcare Company. The test includes CTC enumeration and determination of HER2 status by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) from a blood sample. Determination of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status by immunocytochemical staining will be added to the test later this year, and early next year, respectively. OncoCEE-BR is the first commercially available CTC test to include analysis of a specific, treatment-associated biomarker (HER2).