ANGLE plc ("the Company")

PARSORTIX SYSTEM AND ASSAYS BEING SHOWCASED AT the 2024 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research

ANGLE presenting two posters highlighting the utility of CTC & ctDNA dual analysis and ANGLE's DNA Damage Response assay

ANGLE plc (AIM:AGL OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology, is pleased to announce its participation at the 2024 Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR 2024) being held in Rotterdam, Netherlands from 10 to 13 June 2024. 

ANGLE is presenting two posters at EACR 2024:

1.  Targeted sequencing of circulating tumour cells captured by the Parsortix system enables low frequency variant analysis with pan-cancer Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) panel

The dual analysis of CTCs and circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) is emerging as a workflow to provide a more comprehensive analysis of a patient's cancer*. In this presentation CTC-DNA obtained from Parsortix enriched CTCs and ctDNA from matched plasma samples from 10 ovarian, 13 breast, and 14 lung cancer patients were evaluated. Mutation profiles were reported using targeted NGS performed on the Illumina NextSeq 2000 platform.

In all three cancer types, higher percentages of mutations were identified exclusively in CTCs as compared to ctDNA. Mutations were co-detected in CTC and ctDNA at a frequency of 61%, 30% and 34% for samples from ovarian, breast and lung cancer patients respectively, demonstrating that both complementary and additional information can be obtained when investigating both sample types concurrently.

This presentation highlights the value of profiling CTCs using the Parsortix system in addition to ctDNA analysis, to better report on genetic heterogeneity. The dual analysis of CTCs and ctDNA holds potential to guide personalised treatment selection and therapeutic monitoring towards improving the cancer patient care pathway.

2.  Detection of DNA damage in CTCs harvested from blood samples of ovarian and prostate cancer patients

Gamma H2AX (γ-H2AX) and Phospho KAP1 (pKAP1) are biomarkers used to identify the activation of the DNA damage response (DDR) pathway. Monitoring this activation can be important when evaluating the effectiveness of cancer therapies that target the DDR pathway. ANGLE has developed a DDR assay* for the assessment of these biomarkers in CTCs harvested using the Parsortix system.

This poster presentation reports on the performance of ANGLE's immunofluorescence assay for the identification of different CTC phenotypes (epithelial, mesenchymal and those transitioning) and the determination of DDR status (γ-H2AX or pKAP1). Analytical verification reported that the assay successfully produced linear data, with high analytical sensitivity¹ and analytical specificity² of ≥90% for epithelial, mesenchymal, blood lineage and DDR markers.

The presentation also reported that in samples from ovarian and prostate cancer patients, CTCs were found in 93% of patients overall; and in 62% of ovarian and 77% of prostate cancer patient samples one or more DDR positive CTCs were identified. This data demonstrates the feasibility of using the Parsortix system in combination with ANGLE's DDR assay to monitor CTC count and DDR status as a method of real-time treatment assessment.

ANGLE Chief Scientific Officer, Karen Miller, commented:

"We are delighted to have had two posters presented at the EACR 2024. The results of these studies further demonstrate the utility of ANGLE's technology for dual analysis of CTC-DNA and ctDNA and the utility of ANGLE's DDR assay. These solutions are at the forefront of cancer research, and we look forward to discussions with translational researchers and industry partners at this event."

For further information:

*For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

1.   Analytical sensitivity = proportion of harvested cells known to express the marker(s) of interest which were marker positive in the assay.

2.   Analytical specificity = proportion of harvested cells known to NOT express the marker(s) of interest which were marker negative in the assay.

For Frequently Used Terms, please see the Company's website on https://angleplc.com/investor-relations/glossary/

Notes for editors

About ANGLE plc

ANGLE is a world-leading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology using a simple blood sample. ANGLE's FDA cleared and patent protected circulating tumour cell (CTC) harvesting technology known as the Parsortix^® PC1 system enables complete downstream analysis of the sample including whole cell imaging and proteomic analysis and full genomic and transcriptomic molecular analysis.

ANGLE's commercial businesses are focusing on diagnostic products and clinical services. Diagnostic products include the Parsortix^® system and associated consumables. The clinical services business is offered through ANGLE's GCP-compliant laboratories in the UK. Services include custom made assay development and clinical trial testing for pharma.

Over 90 peer-reviewed publications have demonstrated the performance of the Parsortix system. For more information, visit www.angleplc.com